Maya Rodale's Blog: Maya Rodale's Blog, page 25

Penelope reveals some news and gossip…

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Which one of us is cuter? Be very careful how you answer that!

Penelope here, taking over the blog while Lady Miss Romance Novelist gets cracking on revisions for her next book. I've been given leave to share the title: Seducing Mr. Knightly. And by given leave, I mean I peeked over her shoulder and saw the title page of the manuscript and can hardly contain the news. Fabulous title, no?  I'm going to guess and say the hero is Bossy McBoss Knightly from the previous books. And the heroine is that gal Annabelle, who would probably be unable to resist my starving orphan routine (watch it, kittens!) and would feed me scraps from the table. Je love.

Given that Lady Miss Romance Novelist is revising all this week (I'm sitting here staring at her aka supervising and occasionally barking when I see her mind start to wander) she will be taking a blogcation. Which is to say, there won't be any fresh blogs this week. Alas.

In the meantime, kittens, amuse yourself with this:

Get thee a copy of The Tattooed Duke and/or click here to check out all the behind the scenes details, reviews and other snippets.
Watch this video of ME Penelope.
Decide which you hobby you'd prefer: archery or embroidery.
Milady will be gracing Facebook and Twitter with her presence. No matter the circumstances, one ought to stay up to date on their gossip.

Miss Penelope wants to know: who are the dogs and cats in your house? 

Heroine Problems

We all have problems, but romance novel heroines often face a particular set of dilemmas that I daresay don't vex the rest of us. For example:

Their dresses keep falling off in pictures. Quick–someone send for the modiste!
They are frequently plagued by racing pulses, pounding hearts, delicious shivers, spine tingling, and lightheadedness. Also, it never occurs to them to see a doctor about that.
Heroines are outrageously attracted to men they simply cannot stand and yet with whom they enjoy sparring and trading witty retorts.
I imagine having to wash their long (down to the waist), wavy (not straight, not curly but wavy), silky and luxurious hair without running water or shampoo must be a nuisance.
Heroines are often caught in compromising position with devilishly handsome rogue. Oops!

Let's create an epic list! Can y'all think of any other heroine problems? 

FAQ: What's up with that damned mob of scribbling women?

It was Serious Literary Author Nathaniel Hawthorne who famously grumbled about "that damned mob of scribbling women," of course referring to the popular female sentimental fiction authors who were writing the biggest bestsellers of the day. The entire quote isn't much more flattering:

America is now wholly given over to a damned mob of scribbling women, and I should have no chance of success while the public is occuppied with their trash–and should be ashamed of myself if I did succeed.

Them's fightin' words!

I once read that his most famous novel, The Scarlett Letter, was subtitled "a romance" so that it might appeal to that  large and voracious audience of book buying women who enjoyed fiction featuring heroines up against the world, and often succeeding.  (If you've read it, you know it's anything but a romance!). Apparently he read it to his wife and it sent her to bed with a grievous headache, which meant he considered the book a success. Dear readers, I sincerely hope none of my books send you to bed with grieveous headaches!

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Poor Mr. Hawthorne is haunted my a line from a letter hundreds of years ago. Although, his novel is required school reading while the "trash" of that damned mob is now largely forgotten (I've read some of it, and it's different–epic, and good. A reading list will come soon). One thing I've noticed again and again in my research is that things really don't change and attitudes get passed down. It's comments like this that fueled my research on Dangerous Books For Girls. I'm not sure if that original damned mob embraced that description, but I'm a proud member!

Are you a proud member of that damned mob of scribbling women? 

Have you read The Scarlett Letter–what do you think? 

Heroine Skillz: Archery

Sometimes a girl just needs to shoot something. At the end of a vexing day there is nothing I find more relaxing than taking my bow and arrow down to the archery range. It's not the violence that makes it so calming, it's the ritual. Archery is really about doing exactly the same thing over and over. The repetition. The quiet. The satisfying thwack as an arrow hits the target. It's my meditation.

I grew up in Pennsylvania where hunting is quite the thing. Somewhere, there is a photo of me in a diaper holding an arrow. But I confess: it was Gwenyth Paltrow in the movie Emma that made the sport seem more appealing. What's not to love about a sport one can do in a gown? In fact, there's a whole new batch of shootin' heroines coming up: Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games and Merida who shoots to win her own hand in marriage in Pixar's newest, Brave.

For archery inclined heroines, here's what you need to know…

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Here I am shooting my recurve bow (instead of a compound which has all the weights and pulleys. I won't get into the rivalry btw recurve and compound, that's a story for another blog). Note the arm guard, which protects your inner elbow from being smacked by the bow string, which hurts like the devil. I shot without the guard once–I spent the next day terrifying everyone by saying "Oh, this massive bruise? Yea, I was shootin'…")

Especially take note of the pink feathers on my arrows, which were custom made for me, since this is a sport where having equipment fit just for you is important. So very couture!

In this shot I'm taking aim (which is why face is all scrunched up) and gettin' ready to shoot the target. In my head, I'm going through my checklist to make sure every shot is as consistent as possible. Is my nose touching the string? My lips? Is the arrow tucked right under my chin? How is my posture? Elbow back? Am I over extending? Feet in the same place? Is my site set on the gold? See, it's hard to worry about your problems with all that going through your head.

[image error]Letting go of the arrow –"the release" (hehe)– must be done in a particularl way to ensure accuracy of your arrow. You're not pulling the string, you're just letting go of it. My coach taught me to simply release my fingers and go back to touch my shoulder, which ensures I'm not pulling left or right and sending my arrows off to the sides. In the picture to the left, I've just shot an arrow. Note my fingers brushing my shoulder.

Here's the other thing about archery: you always set your sight on the gold. But your real goal is to get a really close "group" aka all your arrows all snuggled up together on the target. Once you're doing that consistently, the sight can be adjusted to put your arrows in the gold. I find that very philosophical: in order to acheive your ultimate goal, you have to achieve something else instead. Ponder that!

Here's one of my better groups, shot from a distance of twenty yards.

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Have you ever shot a bow and arrow? Ever want to try it? 

QUIZ! Famous First Lines From Literature

Each of Eliza's columns about The Tattooed Duke for The London Weekly begins with a play on the first line from famous novels. My challenge for you: Can you list the real first line and the novel it's from for each quote below?

 Answer by midnight for a chance to win a signed copy of A Tale Of Two Lovers and a temporary tattoo of The Tattooed Duke book cover! (Say that five times fast!) I'll pick one winner randomly from those with perfect scores.

It was the best of times and it was the worst of times for the new Duke of Wycliff…
The Duke of Wycliff, of number four Berkeley Square, is proud to say he is not perfectly normal, thank you very much.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that man in want of a fortune must also be in search of a wife.
Two houses, both alike in indignity.
Happy Dukes are all alike; every unhappy Duke is unhappy in his own way.
No one who had ever seen W.G. Meadows in her infancy would have supposed her born to be a heroine.

Good luck!

Must Reads: Characters In Disguise

I love novels featuring characters that are in disguise. It's doesn't matter whether it's a masquerade ball, a mistaken identity (twins!), or some great under cover escapade.  It's as if in the process of adopting another persona, the character feels free to explore and discover or reveal their true selves.

This latest installment of my must reads features my three favorite novels featuring characters in some sort of disguise. I love them so much I'm giving them away to one lucky winner of this week's contest with my pal  Caroline Linden.

Visit her website to share how you subtitle The Tattooed Duke to be eligible for a chance to win the three exquisite novels below. (And then head over to my contest page to subtitle Blame It On Bath and for a chance to win Caroline's favorite stories featuring widows.)

Duchess By Night by Eloisa James. An oh-so proper duchess disguises herself as a boy so she might attend the outrageous house party hosted by the delightfully named Lord Strange. This is one of my all time favorite EJ novels!

Ashes in the Wind by Kathleen Woodiwiss

The classic. This epic novel is a rare American historical featuring a girl disguised as a boy who fall in love with a Yankee surgeon.

The Amorous Education of Celia Seaton by Miranda Neville



The Amorous Education of Celia Seaton by Miranda Neville. When the hero is struck with amnesia the heroine feels free to create not just a different identity for herself, but also an entire relationship between them. As one does.

Question: What are some of your favorite novels featuring characters in some sort of disguise? 

Lady Jane's Salon: Live Online!

Ever want to attend Lady Jane's Salon but haven't been in New York City (or Denver, Raleigh/Durham or Chicago)? Today is your big chance! The Lady Jane crew is hosting a special salon at the Liberty States Fiction Writers Conference and in partnership with Avon Books, we're bringing it to you live online!

Tune in here at 12:30 pm EST for a super special edition of Lady Jane's Salon featuring the following historical romance authors:

Sarah Maclean reading from A Rogue by Any Other Name

Katharine Ashe reading from When a Scot Loves a Lady

Maya Rodale (me!) reading from The Tattooed Duke

Oh wait, there's more! The authors and I will also be taking questions via facebook and twitter! We hope you tune in and we'd love to hear from you!

When fact & fiction collide: The true stories behind The Tattooed Duke!

For those who are sticklers for historical accuracy in your romance novels, or if you just like to know the behind the scenes scoop, this blog is for you! Fiction involves making stuff up and occasionally it also requires mashing together some true stories into a brand new narrative.  The Tattooed Duke is no exception. Here is a list of the true stories I wove into the story of a Wicked, World-traveling Duke of Wycliff and his newspaper reporter under cover as a housemaid heroine:

Wycliff is paid one thousand pounds to leave England by his lover, Lady Shackley's, husband. This is based on the true story of Lord Invernairn, who thought his wife was having an affair with explorer Earnest Shackleton. The "obvious" recourse was for Invernairn to give Shackleton the equivalent of nearly a million dollars in today's money to fund his expedition to the Antarctic. That certainly got him out of the picture!


The story of Lord Alvanely's ridiculous raindrop wager is true! According to Wikipedia, he wagered three thousand pounds on which particular raindrop would slide to the bottom of the windowpane. You know, as you do when you have an inordinant amount of time and money. This little snippet of gossip also appears in my edition of The London Weekly .

Joseph Banks

 Wycliff was inspired by the real-life explorer and scientist, Joseph Banks, who joined Lieutenant James Cook on an expedition to Tahiti and Australia as the official botanist. One of my favorite books on him, The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, reports "his journal entries cover everything from clothes (or lack of them) and cookery to dancing, tattooing, sexual practices, fishing methods, wood-carving, and religious beliefs." Banks later went on to be the president of Royal Society and sponsored the explorations of Mungo Park who traveled through Africa on foot (another inspiration for my hero!). Mungo's journals are free on amazon–and fascinating!




Second Joseph Banks story: He had a sort of "understanding" with a young woman, Harriet Blosset, and it was assumed he would marry her when he returned from his expedition. Or at least she understood that.  She waited for him while he took years exploring. When he returned he refused to marry her (gah!). There are shades of this in Wycliff's "relationship" with Lady Shackley.

Nelly Bly

Some of Eliza's exploits were actually done by real-life Girl Reporter Nelly Bly—for example, going undercover in the insane asylum (my personal nightmare) and talking to prostitutes for stories. As you might have guessed, Nelly is the inspiration for Eliza (even though she lived a few decades later).


 There really was a race to Timbuktu! In 1824, the Paris-based Société de Géographie offered a 10,000 franc prize to the first non-Muslim to reach the town and return with information about it. Who was the winner? Find out!

Question: How important is historical detail in a novel? 

Let's hang out!

The whirlwind book tour continues! It's been such a fantastic experience meeting readers at the Fresh Fiction Author Tea, Katy Books, Word Brooklyn and Schuler's Music and Books! I'm hoping to catch up with more of y'all! If I'm coming to a city near you, I'd love to meet you. Here's my social calendar for the coming weeks:

•March 13th: Lady Jane's Salon. Via Skype! Denver, CO. 

•March 14th: Booksigning at the Public Library Association Conference. Philadelphia, PA. 

•March 17th: A special edition of Lady Jane's Salon at the Liberty State Fiction Writers Conference.  I'll be reading along with Sarah Maclean and Katharine Ashe. Conference attendees only. 

•March 17th:  Booksigning at the Liberty State Fiction Writers Conference.  5:30-7:00 pm. Open to the public, huzzah!

•March 28th: Lady Jane's Salon. Raleigh/Durham, NC.

•April 10th: Lady Jane's Salon. Naperville, Il.

Happy Reading!

A poem for girls who love to read