Word Wenches

What We're Reading — July 2019

Anne here, bringing you our monthly What We're Reading post from Andrea's house, where five of the wenches have been holding a writing retreat. And I'm running late because my new book, MARRY IN SECRET came out yesterday and I was all over the place trying to promote it.

From Mary Jo:  I discovered Connie Schultz some years back while listening to NPR's Diane Rehm show.  A journalist and Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Connie was promoting her first book, …and His Lovely Wife, a memoir of how she met her second husband, Sherrod Brown (he sent a fan email to her at her newspaper comparing her writing to Barbara Kingsolver.  Swoon!  What female writer could resist that???)

At any rate, they married, combined families--and then Sherrod Brown, at the time an Ohio Congressman, decided to run for Senator. He was a real long shot, but like a good wife, Connie took a leave of absence from her newspaper and helped her husband on the campaign trail--and wherever they appeared, she was introduced as "…and his lovely wife."  Connie saw the humor in that, and she was so warm and funny that I bought her memoir.

Later I bought a collection of her newspaper columns, Life Happens.  It's described as about: kids, dogs, politics, men, women, and how it all works, except when it doesn't." <G>  I enjoyed the book then, and I recently came across it on the bookshelf and am enjoying it all over again.

Her columns run about two pages each and they make delightful tidbits that can be wise, funny, heart warming, heart rending, and deeply insightful.  A favorite of mine is called "The real gift of giving unto others," and it's about her mother, who married young, worked hard, never achieved her dream of becoming a nurse, but who was one of God's gifts to the world.

Connie said her mother's one cautionary note to her daughters about marriage was "Don't marry him until you see how he treats the waitress."  She goes on to quote her mother as saying, "Everyone has a name.  Everyone has someone one who loves them.  Everyone deserves to feel that they matter."

Connie gives examples of how her mother lived her philosophy, and ends by saying, "She never held elective office, was never a company president or in charge of anyone other than her daughters.  But, when she died, more than eight hundred people showed up for her calling hours."  That woman had a life worth living, and this is a book worth reading.

An English Breakfast (and one that isn't)

 

Breakfast ... sometimes eggs are all you need

Joanna here.

I’m about to sit down to breakfast at the hotel. Nothing too fancy. Generally speaking it’ll be toast or a bagel, some kind of egg, and some bitty piece of meat which might come in the form of a bacon slice or two. Possibly some sausage. And coffee. Lots of coffee with a healthy leavening of half and half.

 

So I’m asking myself how this would be different for my Regency protagonist — assuming my Regency protagonist was a middling sort of person like a merchant’s daughter or a member of the petty gentry or the offspring of a prosperous yeoman farmer. The Vicar’s daughter. The apothecary’s kid.

 Picture my intrepid heroine sitting there, stoking the fires for a long day of being kidnapped and fighting her way free from some sordid den of thieves with nothing to aid her but a folding penknife and her native sneakiness.

 

 

 

Family at breakfast with tea and what looks like scones maybe

My young woman’s probably eating at a table with a half dozen other folks. The solitary breakfast in bed would be less common for my middling sort than for richer, more leisured, aristocratic folks. Jane Austen (and her Elizabeth Bennet) probably ate breakfast in the dinning room with her family instead of sending the poor kitchen maid running about with trays.

The Work of Creative Recovery

Susan here, holding down the fort while some of the Wenches are gathering at a national conference. I’m deep in the revisions of two of my backlist books, cleaning up and tightening (I used to be a lot more wordy!) and generally making them better (I hope!) than the originals. Soon I can reveal the gorgeous new covers and new titles for these revised “author’s cut” versions. At the same time, I’m writing another book—so I'm juggling three books at once. The leap from one story to the next, keeping those plates spinning, is an interesting challenge.... Luckily I'm about to finish one, clearing my desk just a bit before diving in again.

In the meantime, it’s summer, people are out there having fun, I need a break too--and the creative well needs time to refill. The time gap between books can be very short before the research, writing, and editing need to start again in earnest. Authors can have incredible stamina for writing long hours, and keeping the pace going, but it catches up eventually. I’m one of those who can burn the candle at both ends and in the middle, too, and without some R&R between book projects, that’s not good for the author, the stories, or ultimately the reader.

My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends --
It gives a lovely light.
                                             ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

 

My Tudor House is Falling Down!

Nicola here and today I'm sharing a visit I did recently to an amazing country house. Just to the side of a busy main road in Cheshire, surrounded by houses and traffic, lies a throwback to another time. It’s called Little Moreton Hall and whilst it’s not a stately home it certainly isn’t that small either. Built 500 years ago, it’s a time traveller from the Tudor era to the present. It was built to impress; a half-timbered house with decorative timber, plasterwork, painting and glazing that is totally dazzling.

I hadn’t been to Little Moreton Hall since I was a child and it’s a tribute to what an amazing place it is that I remember it so well. It was wonderful to revisit it. My first thought when I saw it, though, was to wonder how on earth it had managed to stand for so long. It looks like a house that is crumpling under its own weight. It bends, sags and buckles and the floors and walls are nowhere near straight. It is extraordinary.

Sunday Announcement —quiz winner

Anne here, writing from a hotel room in the USA. I'm on my way to New York for the annual Romance Writers of America conference. And just a short time ago my cell phone rang — and who was it on the other end, but Mary Jo! Cool, eh?

Now, the winner of my little quiz — I didn't choose by the number of correct answers — the web gave me a random number and thus chose the winner of my new book, MARRY IN SECRET, from the many comments in response to my "impossible quiz."

Thank you all so much for joining in the fun of the quiz, knowing you can only make guesses at the answers. I really love it that so many people joined in and had a go.

The winner is Bobbe J. who has received a private email from me.

MARRY IN SECRET hits the stands on the 30 July — not long now. And on that day I'll be with Mary Jo, Pat, Andrea and Joanna on a writing retreat, so keep an eye out for photos on our FaceBook pages. 

Mary Jo will be interviewing me about MARRY IN SECRET on August 2nd. Stay tuned . . . 

And once again, thank you all. Wenchly readers are fabulous!

 

Edith Layton: Challenges & Triumphs of Publishing From the Beyond

Hello Wench readers! Edith Layton was an original founding Wench, and I'm Edith Layton's daughter. I've been a reader and fan here since the blog spawned, and also an extremely occasional guest blogger since forever thanks to the kindness of the Wenches to allow me to update you on all the goings on at Layton HQ. Now I'll stop writing in italics and just get on with it...

 

My mother died 10 years ago. I can't believe it myself. 10 years is a hard anniversary. Even more so because she left when I was pregnant with my second kid, and she's missing out on the show. She did know my son, and even though he didn't talk at the time, she was convinced he was a genius.

Funny enough, she was right.

But seriously folks.

I miss her so much. She was a great cheerleader, and she was so dang fun, and gee, she would've gone on to write a lot more than the paltry 30+ novels she put out...

But the funny thing is that she IS publishing from the beyond. And this comes with great joy, a lot of work, and even a tiny bit of frustration which I'll vent about at the end.

I've detailed the how and the why before in detail, but the short of it is that it took me 5 years to start putting her out-of-print backlist into the world again, publishing them as ebooks for the very first time. And for the past five years, the backlist (that I have the rights to) has been rolling out thanks to Untreed Reads, as well as some never-before published works like Frost Fair, a regency mystery with 5-star reviews, and a Victorian Christmas novella (which is only 99 cents and it's cat-based, and you will not regret it). There will be more new Layton titles to come, and the entire Edith Layton catalog (that is back so far) is here on Amazon. Edith Layton is also on Barnes & Noble — and many other retailers. But first, here's what's really new news.

In the past three months, her "Super Regency" trilogy came back from the dead, as ebooks, for the first time. The Love series, as it is known, is available on Amazon, Apple Books and like everywhere books are sold. The first book, Love In Disguise, is shown up top. They are $4.99 each, but wow—I just learned Drive Thru Fiction is offering a bundle of all 3 books for just $9.99, and you can choose from EPUB, Kindle and PDF formats. Here’s the bundle link: bit.ly/TheLoveTrilogy

Personally, I like the new covers by Untreed Reads waaaaaay better than the originals. I do truly love romance covers that are real paintings (and even paid to have the rights to one of them on an Untreed release) but the originals on this series were done by Pino, and IMHO, a bit over-the-top for a Regency. In fact, Smart Bitches included one of the originals in a roundup they called Covers That Should Be Wallpaper, and I totally agree.

But hey, don't judge a book by it's cover!

Here's a review of Surrender to Love, the book shown at right:

If Wishes Were Horses

Howdy All. Joanna here, thinking about colorful phrases in general and historical colorful phrases in particular.

dog, not hunting or fighting

My father came from farm people in the South. I’d go visiting down there and hear expressions that just delighted me. I remember, “She’s so mean I’m surprised her spit don’t poison her,” “Things put away all cattywumpas,” “That dog won’t hunt,”  “Folks living high on the hog,” and another canine metaphor, “I have no dog in that fight.”

If I were writing a Southerner, I'd have her use these expressions. When I try to create a character who thinks in another language, I look for folk expressions in that language and and use them in literal translation, hoping this builds a sense of "foreign" into the character’s thinking.

What we're watching!

Mary Jo

We Wenches are creatures of The Book, but we also enjoy stories in other formats.  Here's a selection of what we've been watching and enjoying on TV/streaming/movies lately. 

From Nicola:

I’ve been glomming on Killing Eve, which is a British spy thriller TV series where a female intelligence officer tracks down a female psychopathic assassin. It’s based on the Villanelle books by Luke Jennings which I haven’t read so I’m not sure how close the show mirrors the books, whether the book or the TV series is better, or whether it matters! The series has won multiple awards and been highly praised, not least because all the major characters are women and it’s written by women. It certainly has a different sort of take on the spy genre. It’s quirky and comical at times and the dialogue is funny and sharp. The obsession that both Eve and Villanelle develop for each other is fascinating to watch

I also went to the cinema to see Apollo 11 on the big screen as it’s that sort of film! I thought it was an amazing piece of documentary film making and was completely riveted by it. The way it’s put together with never-before-seen footage and audio is very immediate and the rocket launch quite nerve-wracking! It left me speechless and overwhelmed – stirring stuff.

As a follow up I watched a new documentary series about the solar system, The Planets, with Professor Brian Cox which was also fascinating.  Since they couldn’t go on location to Jupiter and Mars they filmed a lot of it in places like Jordan and Iceland, which I’ve visited, so that was even more fun!

 

A Finalist

Anne here, flying in to do some blatant Sunday promo. I’m delighted to announce that my book Marry In Scandal is a finalist in Romance Writers of Australia’s Romance Book of the Year (RuBY) — the historical romance section.

This is Lily’s story and was a bit of a book of the heart.

You can read more about the story here , as well as read an excerpt.

The other finalists in other categories are here, and I’m delighted to see several of my friends’ books listed.

As well, all three books in my Convenient Marriage series — Marry In Haste,  Marry in Scandal and Marry In Secret (out 30 July) are all in a giveaway  at the moment. One is run by my publisher, only for people in the USA. The other is run by me, for people anywhere else in the world.

If you live in the USA enter the sweepstake here. It closes on 16th July, so be quick. 

If you live outside the USA —anywhere in the world — email me through the contact form on my website and I’ll enter you in my own private draw.

The Romance of Knives

Crystal Magic #7

Pat here:

As anyone who reads my Magic books knows, my characters are far more likely to wield a tarot card or a beaker of chemicals than a knife. But I’m researching a series I want to set in Victorian Edinburgh, and one cannot ignore the history of the sgian dubh, the traditional Scots weapon. If nothing else, my heroes would use it to whittle firewood, although I have a suspicion before I get too far, they’ll find better uses.

Quiz—Marry In Secret

Anne here, and here is a #giveaway and a fun little quiz on a book not yet out — MARRY IN SECRET — which will be published on 30 July. All your answers, therefore, must be guesses. Keep note of your answers, and at the bottom of this post there's a link to the answers. Check your results, then come back here and let us know how you went.
I'll choose one commenter to win a copy of MARRY IN SECRET.
I hope you enjoy it.

1) The story opens with Rose about to make a convenient marriage with a handsome duke. Why a convenient (ie. loveless arranged) marriage?
a)  Because she doesn't want to be the last Rutherford girl to get married.
b)  Because she's about to turn 21 and is worried she'll be on the shelf.
c)  Because she's secretly in love with him. 
d)  Because she believes that love is too painful.

2) When Rose fails to marry the duke, Aunt Agatha is:—
a)  delighted. 
b)  thrilled. 
c)  ecstatic. 
d)  none of the above.

3) When Thomas turns up at the church, who says “Throw the dirty beggar out!”
a)  Aunt Agatha
b)  Rose
c)  Cal, Lord Ashendon
d)  The duke

4) When Rose's secret husband turns up how does Rose react?
a)  She slaps him.
b)  She faints.
c)  She  yells at him.
d)  She bursts into tears.

5)  What word best describes the duke's reaction to Rose's long-lost husband turning up?
a)  Irritated.
b)  Jealous.
c)  Relieved.
d)  Furious.

6) Why did Rose get married In secret?
a)  It was an act of defiance against her strict father. 
b)  Because she was worried she might be pregnant.
c)  Because she was young and wild and in love.
d)  To get away from boarding school.

7) Who did she marry?
a)  A soldier.
b)  A sailor.
c)  A gambler.
d)  A spy.

8) Why did Rose's husband disappear in the first place?
a)  He was on the run from the law.
b)  He was already married.
c)  He was shipwrecked.
d)  He was imprisoned by the French.

9) What was Rose's husband doing in the years he was away?
a)  Writing letters. 
b)  Fighting.
c)  A variety of jobs.
d)  Being a pirate.

10) Why has Rose's husband returned?
a)  To revenge himself on Rose for her infidelity.
b)  To get control of Rose's fortune.
c)   Because he loves her.
d)   Because he never breaks a promise.

Now, pop over to this site and check your answers, then come back and let us know how you did. Did any answers surprise you?  I always enjoy these quizzes — coming up with the various possibilities makes me so aware of the different stories I could have written, but didn't. I hope you had fun, too. Thanks for playing.

The Language of Romance

Nicola here. Today I’m talking about the sort of words that people use to describe romance and romantic fiction. In four days, I step down as Chair of the UK Romantic Novelists Association. It’s been an interesting couple of years, sometimes challenging, always busy, but incredibly rewarding to be a part of an organisation that is so involved with the business of romantic fiction. I love the RNA and I love the fact that organisations like it exist to support, celebrate and promote the romance genre. Together with readers, bloggers, writers and all fans of the genre we make up a very loyal band. We’re lucky; we have discovered the joy that reading romantic fiction can bring.

One of the issues of which I have become hyper-aware over the last couple of years is that of the
language that is used by critics to describe romantic fiction. I’ve always been aware of romantic fiction’s literary reputation – at the very start of my writing career a friend told me how she covered my books in brown paper bags because they were a guilty pleasure. (At least she was eco-friendly about it!)   This is hardly a new phenomenon. My grandmother used to hide her genre fiction at the back of her wardrobe. The RNA itself was formed 60 years ago next year to try to tackle the prejudice that there was in the press towards romantic fiction.

Historical Novel Society North American Conference 2019

Susanna here, still settling back to life in the workaday world after a wonderful time at the HNS North American Conference, held this year at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center at National Harbor in Maryland—a beautiful setting, although I have to admit the whole sensation of being in a community enclosed within a glass dome where everything was aiming to look old yet had a futuristic edge felt so surreal at times it had me thinking "Logan's Run" on more than one occasion :) But with so much natural light, it was all but impossible to get the usual hotel fatigue that comes with conferences. The hotel staff was wonderful, the food was superb, and the booksellers friendly. On top of which, the conference committee did an outstanding job of organizing everything, so those of us attending only had to worry about which of the many interesting sessions to choose.

A New Rainbow of Red, White and Blue

Andrea here, tomorrow is America’s birthday, and like all birthdays, it’s a time for festive celebration—red, white and blue cakes, fireworks, parades and general merriment as the milestone serves as a traditional high point in summer across the country. But as we gear up for a day of fun and backyard grilling, I also have a few more serious thoughts about the occasion.

Despite our flaws and foibles—and as a collection of “we, the people,” the country has many—there is much to celebrate. Our forefathers founded this brash experiment with some very radical ideas about equality and the notion of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” And throughout our history, those ideals have served as a guiding light, even when at times, the beacon has seemed dimmed by dark clouds.