Racheline Maltese's Blog, page 38

Do the Thing! Last Minute Edition

Once again, getting this in under the wire, because it’s apparently just this kind of month.

W’re always busy, but now that Starling is out, we’re starting to wind up for the release of Doves in January, and have a full slate of projects to keep us occupied through the end of the year, the busy is reaching new levels.

But we’re also external-deadline-free for a couple of weeks, and can more or less work on whatever we want for now. And while we have plenty we want to do, there’s some things we’re really obsessed with that we’re thrilled to actually focus on.

So what’s your thing this week that you’re just loving working on, no matter how slowly, and even if it’s just in odd moments at the bus stop or on your lunch break? Tell us your favorite current Thing, and we’ll send all our good wishes your way while we work on ours.

Did the Thing! – September edition

The last Friday of the month came and went, and we forgot to put up Did the Thing!

While we’re big fans of reminding people of just how fan being punctual and professional can get you — because so many people just aren’t — the reality is sometimes, we’re just not.  We’re sorry you got caught up in it this week.

But, the post is now here, you should brag, and you should brag even about that stuff that didn’t go perfectly, didn’t get delivered on time, or isn’t finished yet. Are you making progress? Are you doing your best?  You deserve to congratulate yourself for the parts of that that are good, even as you try to do the thing more or better for next time.

Some come on, tell us why your imperfect awesomeness!

 

The Dressmaker’s Duke

A friend from the NYC RWA chapter has a new romance out today, that I wanted to tell you all about. It’s an M/F Regency-era romance from Jess Russell called The Dressmaker’s Duke.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m not into Regency romance because everyone is into Regency romance or because I really love Jane Austen.  I’m into Regency romance because I really love Horatio Hornblower and militaria. Which is to say, I am here for the clothes (which is also how I started doing historical dance, specifically Regency-era historical dance. I even performed at a book party for one of Naomi Novik’s Regency-era Napoleanic Wars with dragons books).

So when I say, “this Regency romance is awesome because it knows not just the tropes, but the actual period,” I mean it.  Also, I’m a sucker for people who are verbally sharp and dry, and I think the excerpt below really captures how this plays out in the dialogue of the novel.

The Dressmaker’s Duke

Rhys Merrick, Duke of Roydan, is determined to be the antitheses of his depraved father, repressing his desires so severely he is dubbed “the Monk” by Society.  But when Olivia Weston turns up demanding payment for gowns ordered by his former mistress, Rhys is totally flummoxed and inexplicably smitten.  He pays her just to remove her from his house, and mind.  But logic be damned; he must have this fiercely independent woman.

Olivia’s greatest fear is becoming a kept woman.  She has escaped the role of mistress once and vows never to be owned by any man.  Rather than make money in the boudoir, she chooses to clothe the women who do.  But when a fire nearly kills her friend and business partner, Olivia’s world goes up in smoke and she is forced to barter with the lofty duke.

As their lives weave together, Olivia unravels the man underneath the Monk, while Rhys desires to expose the lady hiding behind the dressmaker. Will his raw passion fan a long-buried ember of hope within her? Can this mismatched pair be the perfect fit?

~

Excerpt:

“Could you move, please?”

Was it her imagination, or was his voice higher than usual? Then what he actually said registered.

“Move?”

“Yes. Could you move across the room? I find to judge a garment, or anything properly, one must see it in motion.” Her face must have been reflecting the horror she felt, for he hastened on, “You would not expect me to buy a horse simply by looking at its lines would you, Mrs. Weston? I would wish to see it run as well. I’m sure you understand.”

Blast him and his bloody horses. She strode forward, happy to vent some of her anger in movement; however, she realized a split second too late there was nowhere to move. The receiving room was not large and was mostly taken up with the cutting table. The only area with any appreciable room was at the far end of the shop where the huge paneled mirrors stood. He was standing directly in the path that would be her best direction. Consequently, she found herself almost flush up against him.

She knew he was tall. Any fool could see the man was at least two or more inches over six feet, but from this vantage point—directly beneath him—he was so very tall. She could smell the starch of his shirt mixed with a faint whiff of smoke and possibly brandy? She slid her gaze over the shirt and waistcoat to his cravat—a conservatively tied Oriental—to the firm, slightly cleft chin, moving on to the lips, very swiftly past those, and finally resting on his eyes. Pure molten gold. Yes, exactly like those of the Burmese tiger she had seen at a menagerie in Paris. His bearing was just as predatory.

“It would appear, sir, in order for me to move, as you require, you will have to bestir yourself as well.”

She thought she saw one side of his mouth shift ever so slightly upward into what might have been the merest twitch of a smile. She could not be one hundred percent sure because, to do so, she would have to look at his lips. The duke shifted his weight and made a small bow. Her shoulder brushed the superfine of his midnight blue jacket as she hurriedly squeezed past him.

She strode almost to the mirrors before wheeling around and giving him what she hoped was an accusatory look.

“Well, Your Grace. I hope you are satisfied”

“Satisfied, Mrs. Weston?” He raised that infernal eyebrow. “Oh no, madam, I am very far from satisfied. However, I am hopeful I will be, in the not so distant future.” Again his gaze raked over her.  “Yes, I do live in hope.”

Jess talks a little bit about this book and her journey to it and being a writer below:

A bit about me.

I have had lots of jobs. Wife, mom, (15 year old who is a sophomore at Bronx Science) actress, print/shoe model, acting teacher, professional stager (for selling real estate), award winning batik artist, and designer. (Right now I am in the middle of hand-sewing a Regency gown. I figure, if my heroine can do it, I can do it!)

Obviously I like to make things. I love the notion of creating something out of nothing, or at least things that other folks might think of as worthless. I am always dragging things off the street of New York City where I live now, and “re-purposing” them.

I love power tools. I have remodeled several kitchens, and three bathrooms as well as numerous tiling jobs and even painted faux finishes on furniture and walls. I knew my husband really knew me when he got me a chain saw for my birthday!

I never ever thought I’d be a writer. I am dyslexic. I overcame that fairly early on (thanks, mom) but the idea stuck in my head that I couldn’t write. I have always loved Romance and particularly Historical Romance.

When I turned 50 I wanted a new challenge. One particular scene had been brewing in my head for a long time so I thought I’d write it down. I did. Little by little I got braver. I sent a chapter to my mom to check it for “grammar.” Then I joined the Romance Writers of America and entered some of their writing contests. At first I did not final but got very encouraging feedback. Then I began to final and win. In the end I received three publishing offers for the book.

I still do many other creative things-still make things-now I can add that I’ve made a book! I am working on several other stories. Each one keeps tugging at me, “Write me!” So I feel a bit all over the place.

Why do I write what I do?

When one writes Historicals there are all these parameters that the author must try to write within. The world of a Regency woman is narrow, but she still has all the feelings that a modern day woman has, she just must express them in a more subtle way. This is the challenge for the writer who chooses the historical path; a kind of tightrope. I think the best historical writers embrace these strictures and learn to move gracefully and creatively between the confines of their chosen world.

It is easy to fantasize about the Regency period as being a more courtly and chivalrous time. I love exploring those opportunities for romance. But then realities intrude: no woman’s rights, hygiene, sickness. My current WIP deals with the Hero being shut up in a madhouse—not a pleasant thing. But that’s what I also love about the time in which I write, I love to show the reality and humanity of these people. They are not just witty cardboard cutouts, they are thinking, feeling folk with problems just like you and me.

Lucky Me.

Lucky Me because I had parents who cared about a child who struggled to read, lucky because I was able to explore my creativity in so many ways, lucky because, with age and experience, I stopped telling myself “no.”

I am a writer now. I am owning that title more and more stepping farther and farther out of my comfort zone to push against the arbitrary walls I put up. Writing has been an incredible journey for me. It has stretched my boundaries from my first tentative scene to, submitting to contests, to finaling in them, and winning them. Being a writer has opened my life up to new friendships and opportunities. But best of all, it has told me new things about myself and what I can achieve.

You can visit Jess online at JessRussellRomance.com and you can grab The Dressmaker’s Duke at Amazon.com and at your other favorite retails for ebooks and paperbacks.

Do the Thing! Stop in bad places

With Starling out now, and a couple of weeks without externally imposed deadlines, Racheline and I are getting back in the groove of making words instead of editing or marketing them. Which, after an extended period of fine-tuning final final final editing, can be really hard. And in order to get anything done at all, we have to keep reminding ourselves that all a first draft has to do is exist, that ALL of our first drafts are a complete mess, that we always make it gorgeous, and that the pain of doing so is part of our process.

Momentum is important in Doing the Thing — once you get started, it gets much easier to keep going. This past Saturday we were in the Philly writing office, getting our head back in a story we haven’t been able to touch for a few weeks. And god, it was hard. We managed to get a couple of scenes down on the page, really roughly, and then tried to figure out when we could take a break and go get dinner.

“Let’s just finish this scene,” I said, “and get to a good stopping point.”

“No no no,” Racheline said. “Let’s finish this scene and start on the next and get to a bad stopping point. ‘Cause then it’s easier to start again.”

There’s a frustration that comes with not finishing a scene. And in a way, gaming that reaction to make sure that, no matter how tired and frustrated and out of it we are, we want to come back to the story, is our very own personal method of Leave Them Wanting More that Victor champions so highly in Starling.

Because when we write, we do it to tell the story that we want to and that we just can’t let go of (and that won’t let go of us.) We’re our own first audience. And if we can keep our own attention, we’re probably doing all right.

So here’s to finding and keeping the momentum, because getting that going is fucking HARD.  What’s your momentum!thing this week, and how are you keeping it up (or trying to get it started?)

 

 

Being and coming out

If you’re LGBTQ+, and maybe if you’re not, you probably know that coming out is a process that never ends. Sure, maybe your parents, your friends, and your job know, but because we live in a culture that assumes heterosexuality, a lot of moments happen where coming out or going along with a not quite truth are in the cards.

And, no matter how comfortable you may be with yourself, no matter how open you hopefully have the luxury of being, and no matter how safe your community, sometimes, those moments are still really, really nerve-wracking.

I’ve been having a lot of those moments lately, for the first time in a very long time. And no, this post isn’t going to be a metaphor about writing romance — although, yes, people are weird about that too.

It’s just that I’m almost 42, been with my partner for 7.5 years, and don’t necessarily engage in a lot of casual social interaction; that’s one of the beauties of New York. A huge number of my friends are some sort of LGBTQ+, and right there is another reality of my queerness: I don’t actually deal with a lot of straight people.

I think this is a fairly common experience for lots of LGBTQ+ people, although it’s one I’ve had to explain to a few of the heterosexual readers of Starling. Yes, some gay/etc. people mostly have gay/etc. friends, and their whole worlds can, in fact, be a non-stop rainbow of LGBTQ+ magic. I mean, I live in a gay neighborhood and eat Big Gay Ice Cream. Really.

Anyway, lately, because of Starling, I’ve been having to deal with this coming out thing again.  Because I’ve been meeting people and networking in the LGBT and general romance communities, both on- and off-line.  And in many parts of the broad romance community queerness is not assumed.

I’ve been so visibly queer for so much of my life, that it’s completely weird to have people assume my partner is my friend or my sister.  I splutter, and I have no idea what to say.  Also weird?  Getting nervous before I post to Facebook groups to promote Starling that they might not be comfortable with gay content or that it will be held to a higher ratings standard.

After all, our cover features two men kissing, and to this day there are still publishers that give any gay romance their highest heat rating, regardless of the actual content of the book. Which to me just feels homophobic and like it’s suddenly 1987 all over again.

Yet more and more, I feel surprised that I’m surprised by all this. Progress doesn’t move at the same pace in all places and all communities, and it doesn’t move linearly either.  So I’m learning to send the reassuring emails that of course Erin & I can keep a discussion of our novel PG — even though it’s gay! —  just as Erin, who has only recently come out, is learning to navigate the maze of Random Verbal Contortions People Will Go Through To Avoid Making Erroneous Assumptions About Queerness That Would Actually Be Correct.

While I don’t believe what we write is political or any sort of blow for equality — they’re just stories we want to tell about screwed up people who have some stuff in common with us (besides, my blow for equality generally looks like giving money to Lambda Legal) — the personal is political.  And this weird journey of this book, and future books, existing, includes some very vivid reminders of just how true this is.

You never stop coming out.  But man, I never thought the degree to which I’d have to would accelerate because I helped write a romance series about Hollywood and the choices people make about their private lives when they’re on public display.

25% off at Torquere!

To celebrate its 11th anniversary, Torquere is offering 25% off everything in its store with code Torquere2014.

That means you can get Starling for just $4.49 and “Lake Effect” for just $1.87.

The coupon is valid through this Sunday only.

Do the thing! (Even though you’re totally going to screw it up)

Wow. It’s 11:33pm, and we just remembered it’s Monday and that it’s time for Do the thing!

Considering we’re now five days past our first book launch this seems like a good time to tell you what will happen when you Do the Thing!

Well, lots of things will happen, but the important one right now is this: Shit will go wrong.

A lot of shit.

A lot of shit no one cares about but you.

Stuff won’t happen when you think it will. There will be technical snafus. There will be instructions misunderstood. And you will be tired, and you will forget stuff, and it will all seem like the apocalypse.

None of it, however, actually is, even if some of it turns out to be a little cringe-worthy.

And the reason you need to know this isn’t to try to get things perfect or even to accept that you can’t.

The reason you need to know this is because a lot of us are really afraid of success. We don’t think we’ll survive it — either because it’ll be really big and scary or really anti-climatic (You know what you have to do after you get a book published? You get to go back to writing the next one).  I mean, holy crap, we just wrote a book about how fame makes someone’s life really weird.

But the reality is that our protagonist survives fame. Which almost certainly means you will survive your book release, your big audition, your dream job, and the way you or other people may screw all of those things up or at least find them kind of eh.

And on some level that sucks.  It’s totally balloon bursting.

But if succeeding isn’t the end of the world, and failing isn’t the end of the world, wow, there’s a lot less out there to stop you all of a sudden, isn’t there?

Good news for Nook users

Starling is now available in ebook format at B&N for the discounted price of $4.99!

We hope to have news on the paperback release for you as soon as next week.

Starling gets 5 stars from Carly’s Book Reviews!

Our blog tour begins in earnest today with Carly’s Book Reviews and it’s 5 stars! Carly writes:

“STARLING is a reader’s treasure that completely engaged me from the very beginning. I found myself talking to my kindle, offering advice, yelling, cringing, cheering and processing each emotional experience as if it was my own. The realities of life, love and self discovery that are presented in this highly character driven story are exceptional. STARLING is well written and develops at a slow but steady pace that perfectly complements its raw emotionalism. I was thrilled with this first offering in the Love in Los Angeles series and am eagerly anticipating further additions by this exciting writing duo!”

Wow.  Just wow!  We’re shocked and thrilled in the best possible way!

Please visit Carly’s site to check out the full review, enter to win a Torquere gift card, and see another excerpt from Starling.

Release Day: Starling

Starling is here!

Starling

Amazon | AllRomance | Smashwords | Torquere Bookstore | Barnes & Noble

$5.99

By Racheline Maltese and Erin McRae

Be careful what you wish for…

When J. Alex Cook, a production assistant on The Fourth Estate (one of network TV’s hottest shows), is accidentally catapulted to stardom, he finds himself struggling to navigate both fame and a relationship with Paul, one of Fourth’s key writers. Despite their incendiary chemistry, Alex’s inexperience and the baggage they’re both carrying quickly lead to an ugly break-up.

Because the stars aren’t benign

Reeling from their broken hearts, Alex has an affair and Paul has an ill-advised reunion with an old flame. Meanwhile, the meddling of their colleagues, friends — and even the paparazzi! — quickly make Alex and Paul’s real life romance troubles the soap opera of the television season.

But while the entertainment value may be high, no one knows better than Alex and Paul that there are no guarantees when it comes to love in Los Angeles.

You can get Starling now at Amazon, Torquere Bookstore, Smashwords, and AllRomance. Throughout today and the rest of this week, it will also become available at other major ebook retailers, including B&N. As that happens, we’ll update the links on our book page.

As always, reviews help improve a book’s visibility. We hope you will take a moment to review Starling on your favorite website(s) (e.g., Amazon, Goodreads, etc.) and encourage you to do the same for all your reading choices.