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What I’ve been doing this week:

1) Working on the new book. Up to page 56 now! And watching Caribbean vacation shows on the Travel Channel and calling it research. Never mind that the story is set in the 1530s, and it’s doubtful there were any all-inclusive resorts with cabanas and unlimited mango margaritas, it’s the atmosphere I’m after.

2) Deciding what books to order to celebrate my birthday, which is on Tuesday! Mango margaritas all around!

3) Mourning the loss of the Golden Globe awards. No gowns! No jewels! No hilarious tipsy acceptance speeches! January will be blah indeed.

4) Watching the DVDs of the BBC series Robin Hood, which I got from Netflix. My North and South DVD needed a rest, so I thought I would give this one a try. So far–interesting. More thoughts later. In the meantime, my friends are sick of me constantly yelling “Mr. Thornton! You are being such a meanie! And wash your hair!” at the TV screen.

And, in case you thought my week was totally wasted, I found out January 12 is the anniversary of the founding of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The RAS’s website states that it “…encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar system science, geophysics, and closely related branches of science.” Anyone over 18 who proves acceptable to the Society can apply for a fellowship even today. It all began at a dinner at the Freemason’s Tavern on January 12, 1820, when it was just the Astronomical Society (it received a charter from William IV in 1831). It was formed by mostly “gentlemen astronomers” to support and further their research.

The minutes of this meeting record: “On this day several gentlemen…met together by appointment at the Freemason’s Tavern, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, to take into consideration the propriety and expediency of establishing a Society for the management and promotion of astronomy.” 14 attended this meeting. The Duke of Somerset was elected president, but resigned a week later. His friend Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society, thought a new Astronomical Society might drain resources from the RS. William Herschel then became president, with Francis Baily secretary and Daniel Moore chairman.

The second meeting on February 8, at the Geological Society rooms in Bedford Street, Covent Garden, boasted 83 members. The Monthly Notices began publication in 1827 (prior to this reports of their meetings were found in the Philosophical Magazine). It wasn’t until 1915 that a Supplemental Charter admitted women to the Society.

So, if we can’t see stars on the red carpet, at least we can still see them in the sky! What have you been up to this week?

This week, I started work on a new book (up to page 22 now!). It’s the third of what I call my “Renaissance Trilogy,” which started with A Notorious Woman and continues with A Sinful Alliance in April (the story of Nicolai Ostrovsky). This 3rd, unnamed book, is Balthazar Grattiano’s story, and takes place mostly in the Caribbean in the 1530s. I’m hoping that imagining warm islands and sandy beaches will help me through the cold, gray winter days!

This first part of a book, the first step, Chapter One, is very exciting. All those blank pages–anything can happen! It’s also very, very scary. All those blank pages–disaster can happen. Like the first day of a long-planned, much-anticipated vacation. For this book, hopefully I’m fortified by lots of research (including the trip to visit Diane in Virginia last summer!), and by the feeling that I know the characters very well. They’ll usually show me where they want to go.

Every writer starts a story in a different way, I’m sure, but mine always seem to start with a character. Sometimes the hero, sometimes the heroine. Then I have to find them a story, a frame, and their right match. These 3 stories happened to start with heroes (2 of them heroes I never intended to write a story for, until they insisted!). But their heroines came to me vividly soon after. In Notorious Woman, there’s Marc the ship’s captain and Julietta the perfumer, both with secrets to hide; in A Sinful Alliance, Nicolai the actor and spy, and Marguerite–well, she’s a spy, too. She tries to kill him in a Venetian brothel, and then they meet again a year later at the court of Henry VIII! Balthazar, the pseudo-villain of ANW, is now seeking to redeem himself in the New World, until he meets tavern owner Bianca, a woman he may have wronged in his misspent youth…

As you can tell, I really like characters with Secrets, with a dark side they must overcome through the power of love and self-realization. I often like characters who are “outsiders” in some way, who march to their own beat despite what society might expect. Characters who are–risky, I guess. Sometimes they’re harder to get to know, but they always take me to such interesting places. Both as a writer and a reader. (BTW, Elizabeth Mahon, a frequent RR visitor, has a great blog about such real-life historical “characters” at Scandalous Women)

This particular journey, with these characters, is just starting. Wish me luck.

Who are some of your favorite characters???

Don’t forget to join us tomorrow, as Diane launches Vanishing Viscountess (and gives away a copy)! Keep up with all our characters, risky or otherwise, by signing up for our newsletter at riskies@yahoo.com…


Warning: Totally frivolous and useless post ahead! Some of you probably need a little break from the holiday craziness (like me!), so here are a few fun Internet finds to wile away some quiet moments as you plan your New Year’s Eve.

Cat Head Theater: Animated cats performing a scene from Hamlet ‘Nuff said.


A music video
using scenes from Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and North and South. Kinda sappy (okay, really sappy), but fun!



An article
on how to make your own green evening gown from Atonement, if you’re so inclined. And if you are, I’ll buy it from you! But will someone please give Keira Knightley a cheeseburger, immediately!!! (Bertie, can I count on you?)

Tartx jewelry–I think I’ve talked about this site before, but I just love it so am doing so again! The necklaces are beautiful, and the quality terrific, too (I own a couple of pendants, Marie Antoinette and Jane Austen, plus keep a wishlist there!)



Richard Armitage Online
Because I got my own DVD of North and South for Christmas, and I’ve been watching it way more than is good for me this last week. It almost makes me want to write a Victorian-set story! Maybe I’ll rewatch P&P, too.

A short trailer for the movie The Duchess. I’m still trying to figure out if that bit with the pillared balcony is set at the assembly rooms in Bath (Diane and Deb, what do you think??)

Happy New Year, everyone! What are your resolutions? I have the usual. Go to yoga class more. Eat more vegetables (french fries don’t count). Write 10 pages a day. Okay, 8. And, for now, cut back on watching North and South. I also have a new dress for the New Year’s party, but sadly things on that holiday never seem to go like in that cheesy-but-great movie The Cutting Edge. You know–sparklers, music, a handsome hockey player-turned ice skater to kiss at midnight. But I have hopes for this year…

See you in 2008!


I have to admit–I haven’t read much fiction this year! The reason is simple. I’ve had tight deadlines, and when I’m working on my own stuff I avoid other novels. My ego is fragile enough as I try to finish a story, I don’t need a fabulous book giving me a breakdown. I would end up spending all my writing time sobbing “My book will never be as good as this! Never, I say!” So, I buy books and put them on my teetering TBR mountain, and save them for a bribe for finishing the book before deadline. Or at least on deadline.

On my romance TBR pile right now are: Janet’s Rules of Gentility (soon to be joined by Diane’s Vanishing Viscountess and Michelle Willingham’s Her Warrior King), Elizabeth Hoyt’s second two books of the Prince trilogy, Juliet Landon’s The Warlord’s Mistress, Kathryn Albright’s The Angel and the Outlaw, and Lisa Kleypas’s entire “Seasons” quartet (yes, I’m a bit behind). I’ve also been re-reading Mistletoe Kisses for the holiday season, which includes Diane’s novella Twelfth Night Tale. It’s perfect for escaping from modern-day holiday madness!

I’ve been mostly reading non-fiction, research type books, but there have been several real gems this year. I had to cut my list down to the Very Best, and here are just a few:

Janet Todd’s Death and the Maidens: Yes, yet another book about the Shelley circle, but Todd (who also has great bios of Mary Wollstonecraft and Aphra Behn to her name) centers her story on the rarely-seen Fanny Wollstonecraft, go-between, smoother-over, overlooked first daughter of MW, who killed herself at age 22. It’s also a meditation on the role of all women in this sphere, which makes me feel lucky to have only known them through books!

Janet Gleeson’s Privilege and Scandal: a biography of Harriet Spencer, Countess of Bessborough, sister and inseparable friend of Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire, mother of Caroline Lamb, lover of–well, lots of people. Her life in many ways mirrored that of her sister–turbulent marriages, massive debts, illness, travel, dramatic love affairs. All written in a riveting style that turns these long-ago lives into fascinating soap opera!

Lucy Worsley’s Cavalier: A Tale of Chivalry, Passion, and Great Houses: Worsley is Chief Curator of Britain’s Historic Royal Palaces (a job I envy deeply), this detailed book centered on the 17th century William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, shows her work in every loving, lavish detail of his houses and all the people who lived in them. A fabulous resource for the period. (For more of this family, check out Katie Whitaker’s terrific biography of William’s author wife Margaret, Mad Madge)

Linda Colley’s The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: I recently saw that the NY Times listed this as one of their Top Ten books of the year, which surprised me. Not because this isn’t a great book, which it is, but because I thought I had found a hidden gem, LOL! This book chronicles the obscure but extremely adventurous life of 18th century Elizabeth Marsh. She came from a seafaring family who rose to prosperity thanks to an ambitious uncle in the Admiralty. At 20, she was captured by Barbary pirates and nearly ended in the Morcocan sultan’s harem. She married a British merchant, and went through times of prosperity and high living followed by bankruptcy and a new life in India (where she spent 18 months touring the country in the company of a dashing officer who was not her husband!). And these were just a few of her adventures…

And Georgina Howell’s Gertude Bell, Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations: Another book about an adventurous woman! Gertrude Bell is not obscure like Elizabeth Marsh, but I find the details of her life fascinating. Born into England’s 6th richest family, she was a poet, historian, archaeologist, mountaineer, gardener, linguist, and politician who was vital in shaping the early 20th century Middle East (which also makes her story very timely for today).

As far as films go, for most of the year I was pretty disappointed by the movies I saw. Then, in the last few weeks, I’ve seen 4 great ones! Atonement, Juno, Enchanted, and the DVD of the Edith Piaf biopic La Vie En Rose. All very different, but all highly recommended. 🙂

So, that is my reading year in review! I just hope 2008 is just as great. What have been your own favorite reads this year? What are you looking forward to in the coming months??


For the past week here in Oklahoma, we’ve been having rather unpleasant weather. Ice, snow, rain, and no sun. My TV and Internet were down, the pets huddled in their fleece beds by the heating vents, but I’ve had a lovely time re-reading Persuasion. It was Austen’s last novel, published after her death, and it’s my favorite of all the books. With Pride and Prejudice a very close second, and all the others tied for 3rd. Or maybe Mansfield Park is 4th. Janet is right–it is literary Big Girl Panties. Though I would a thousand times rather read it again than read, say, Moby Dick.

Anyway, Persuasion. What a beautiful book. If MP is big girl panties, and Moby Dick is fried liver and onions, Persuasion is rich, dark hot chocolate on a cold night. In college, I once wrote a paper contrasting Persuasion and MP, and Anne Elliot and Fanny Price. I’m always struck by how different the two books are, in tone and theme as well as character. Anne shares Fanny’s dutifulness and loneliness, but has a warmth and sweetness, a hidden spirit, Fanny lacks. (Anne also doesn’t go around lecturing people and ruining their fun, even when they richly deserve it!). Fanny ‘wins’ by not changing, by upholding the status quo; Anne wins by doing the exact opposite.

But let’s start at the beginning. Persuasion is about, well, love. Real, lasting love and what it means. About self-deception, the messes families make, narcissism and the unknowability of other people. Communication and the lack thereof. Snobbery and honor. The importance of not jumping off walls. Aging, the passing of time, change and regret.

Anne Elliot is on the shelf. She is in her mid to late 20s, living an invisible life with her insufferable family. Her father, Sir Walter Elliot, “was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage…he could read his own history with an interest which never failed–this was the page at which the favorite volume was always opened: ‘Elliot of Kellynch-Hall’.” He is only interested in himself and what reflects him. His daughter Elizabeth is “very like himself”, and Mary has “acquired a little artificial importance” because she is married. But Anne, “with an elegance of mind and sweetness of character, which must have placed her high with any people of real understanding, was nobody with either father or sister: her word had no weight…she was just Anne.” Her father “had never indulged much hope, he had none now, of ever reading her name in any other page of his favorite work”–to not be in the book was simply not to be, and thus Anne doesn’t really exist. But his profligacy has driven the family into near bankruptcy, and they’re forced to rent out Kellynch-Hall and retreat to Bath, which Anne, like her author Austen, does not like.

Her friend and surrogate mother, Lady Russell, is a “benevolent, charitable, good woman, and capable of strong attachments,” but she also holds “a value for rank and consequence, which blinded her a little to the faults of those who possessed them.” It is mainly she who persuaded Anne, years ago, to refuse the offer of the young naval officer Wentworth, something Anne has regretted ever since. But they will soon meet again.

Regret and the passing of time, of course, are a big theme in Persuasion. I once read an essay that compared Persuasion to Shakespeare’s late romances (Winter’s Tale, The Tempest, Cymbeline), and this seems apt. They both share a bittersweetness, an ‘autumnal’ quality of poignancy and sadness, and the dream of second chances. The story begins in “summer 1814” (the only Austen book set in a specific time). It is “more than seven years…since the little history of sorrowful interest reached its close.” It is a big turning point for England as well as Anne. She had “been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older.” Like Anne, everything is in a condition of change. All the old stabilities (family, parents, social rank and property, respected names) are called into question. New values are rising to take their place, and change Anne’s life. Nominal gentlemen (like Sir Walter and the odious Mr. Elliot) are shown to be, well, not very gentlemanly at all. Not compared to men like Wentworth and Admiral Croft.

At Lyme, Louisa Musgrove is “convinced of sailors having more worth than any other set of men in England; that they only knew how to live, and they only deserved to be respected and loved.” (Aside from the youthful hyperbole, Anne would agree–“She prized the frank, the open-hearted, the eager character beyond all others”).

By the end, of course, wrongs are righted, miscommunications (of which there have been many) are cleared, and Anne and Wentworth are united at last (“There they exchanged again those feelings and those promised which had once before seemed to secure every thing, but which had been followed by so many, many years of division and estrangement. There they returned again into the past more exquisitely happy…than when it had been first projected”). But unlike previous Austen marriages (the Darcys with Pemberley, Fanny Price and Mansfield, Emma and her two houses), endless stability is not on the horizon for the Wentworths. War is threatened; the new values, not secured by property and conventional society, will be tested. “She (Anne) gloried in being a sailor’s wife, but she must pay the tax of quick alarm for belonging to that profession which is, if possible, more distinguished in its domestic virtues than its national importance.” We have to trust in their own constancy and emotional stability to see them through.

What do you think of Persuasion, of Anne and Wentworth and their brave new world? We’re so glad you’ve joined is for our Austen Week! It’s been so much fun to share our love of these books.

Be sure and comment for a chance to win a copy of Maggie Lane’s Jane Austen’s World! (One of those books I ordered not realizing I already had a copy. Oops!). And keep up with these special events and giveaways by signing on for our newsletter at riskies@yahoo.com .