Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 127

Moonlight Mistress excerpt - the opening

This is the opening section of Moonlight Mistress, out December 2009 from Harlequin Spice.#There were no trains to Strasbourg.The hand lettered sign on the station wall might be wrong, or something might have changed. Lucilla Daglish clutched her single carpetbag more closely to her skirts, to more efficiently protect her scientific glassware from the anxious crowd, but also for reassurance.

More RWA National Conference 2009

Nifty Hotel PicturesI couldn't find a place for these in my posts on the conference, so here they are: a few "artsy" snapshots of the Wardman Marriott.Tomorrow is Snippet Saturday--theme is "openings." I've posted the opening section of Moonlight Mistress.

RWA National Conference 2009 Report, Part Three

I loved the hotel gardens, which were filled with beds upon beds of bright red salvia and richly golden marigolds.Friday morning, I got up way too early because I heard one of my roommates saying into the phone, very calmly, that a hose in the toilet tank was shooting water all over the mirror. At least it was clean water...I decided that, if I got cholera, at least I would provide a research

RWA National Conference 2009 Report, Part Two

I was most amused to find the hotel had changed one of the mens' bathrooms into a womens' bathroom, and as part of the repurposing, they draped and decorated the urinals with flowers and boxes of tissues, so our maidenly eyes would not be offended.Thursday at the conference seemed to last for a really long time and involve a lot of wandering around the hotel trying to find things and people. I

RWA National Conference 2009 Report, Part One

I began my trip to D.C. for RWA Nationals on Wednesday morning at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. I spent the time before my track was announced in snapping pictures of the station's architecture; I'm there often, but rarely with a camera in my hand; the angel statue is especially photogenic. Remember it at the beginning of the film Witness? I took the Amtrak train, which is a comfortable

Confessions of a Luddite

I have a confession to make.I don't really like reading e-books.I spend all day in front of a computer at my day job. On the weekends, I spend at least half of each day in front of my laptop, writing fiction. Despite anti-glare and backlighting, when I read a book I don't want to have to pull out another device. I don't want to carry another device around. I don't want to press buttons and scroll

My thoughts on returning from RWA's National Conference.

Q: How many surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb?A: Fish.

Siegfried Sassoon, "Twelve Months After"

Twelve Months After Hullo! here's my platoon, the lot I had last year. 'The war'll be over soon.'              'What 'opes?'                      'No bloody fear!'Then, 'Number Seven, 'shun! All present and correct.'They're standing in the sun, impassive and erect.Young Gibson with his grin; and Morgan, tired and white;Jordan, who's out to win a D.C.M. some night;And Hughes that's keen on wiring;

Digesting Critique

I have a rule for myself. After I've attended my writers' workshop and had a manuscript critiqued, I don't work on that manuscript for at least a day or so, more sometimes. It might be tempting to go home and immediately page through my notes and the written comments and get started, or to start writing the next section of the novel, or redoing scenes, but I've discovered that just doesn't work

Dissecting Critique, Dissecting Manuscripts

Currently, I'm working on my third novel for Harlequin Spice, tentatively titled The Duke and The Pirate Queen. I'm about a third of the way through the first draft. I gave the first few chapters to my longtime writers' workshop, to get some early feedback. It's a little different asking for a critique on a partial manuscript, especially when the novel has already been sold. This time, I did