Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 117
October 26, 2009
Linkgasm #2
A Writing Revolution at Seedmagazine.com. "Nearly everyone reads. Soon, nearly everyone will publish." That's not a new idea. "Consumers" who write have been around for a long, long time. I was reminded immediately of The Organization for Transformative Works. And Henry Jenkins' Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide as well as Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Media Consumers in a
October 25, 2009
Jane Austen Didn't Let Other People Tell Her What To Write
"My Dear Sir, I am honoured by the Prince's thanks and very much obliged to yourself for the kind manner in which you mention the work. ...You are very kind in your hints as to the sort of composition which might recommend me at present, and I am fully sensible that an historical romance, founded on the House of Saxe-Cobourg, might be much more to the purpose of profit or popularity than such
October 23, 2009
Moonlight Mistress Excerpt - Emotion
Moonlight Mistress is out December 2009 from Harlequin Spice. #Crispin hadn't felt any fear at all as he'd led his platoon into battle, only a strange feeling of intense concentration and heightened senses. Now that the worst of the fighting was over, though, chance had left him stranded far from his company, his twisted ankle swelling inside his boot, each beat of his pulse throbbing up his
Jessica Freely - Wildly Successful E-Book Promotion - Guest Post
Please welcome my guest, Jessica Freely!#Hi, I'm m/m erotic romance author Jessica Freely and I'm guest blogging here today. Thank you, Victoria, for having me over!I just had a new ebook, Rust Belt, come out last month, so the topic of promotion has been on my mind lately. You know promotion. We're all supposed to do it, and most of us would rather not. We're writers. We want to be writing
October 22, 2009
The Intricacies of Marriages of Convenience
I may have mentioned once or twice (ahem) how much I love the "marriage of convenience" plot. I recently finished reading one of Mary Balogh's recent novels, First Comes Marriage, which I really enjoyed, and which also got me thinking again about why I find that plot so rewarding, particularly in historical romance.Obviously, you can generate a lot of plot tension simply from two strangers
October 21, 2009
Happy Birthday, Ursula!
"We turn not older with years but newer every day." --Emily DickinsonToday is Ursula Kroeber LeGuin's 80th Birthday.[Photo copyright Eileen Gunn:]"Socrates said, "The misuse of language induces evil in the soul." He wasn't talking about grammar. To misuse language is to use it the way politicians and advertisers do, for profit, without taking responsibility for what the words mean. Language used
October 20, 2009
The Thin Dead Line
Writers talk about their deadlines all the time."I have so many deadlines!" "I don't think I'm going to make that deadline." "At least your deadline is later than mine."I think we often forget how very important those deadlines actually are, even aside from the fact that we signed a contract saying we would meet certain deadlines and by the time the book is turned in, have usually already
October 19, 2009
The Basics - Historical Research Links
I usually prefer researching through physical books - I just like to carry them around. But the Internet is a wonderful resource, especially if you don't feel like trekking out to a library.The Internet Public Library is always a great starting point. "The IPL is many things: 1) the first public library of and for the Internet community; 2) an experiment, trying to discover and promote the most
October 18, 2009
Inspiration All Around
Here are some reasons I love living in Philadelphia. All of these photographs were taken while walking along 12th Street and its near vicinity in South Philadelphia.
October 17, 2009
Ivor Gurney, "Pain"
PainPain, pain continual; pain unending;Hard even to the roughest, but to thoseHungry for beauty...Not the wisest knows,Nor most pitiful-hearted, what the wendingOf one hour's way meant. Grey monotony lendingWeight to the grey skies, grey mud where goesAn army of grey bedrenched scarecrows in rowsCareless at last of cruellest Fate-sending.Seeing the pitiful eyes of men foredone,Or horses shot,
