Maya Rodale's Blog: Maya Rodale's Blog, page 30

Clutter-Free Gift Ideas

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On Fridays I'm blogging at my momma's blog, Maria's Farm Country Kitchen where I'm helping her cook up trouble and dish out advice!

When I was a kid, Santa would not come unless I cleaned out my room first. We hauled out bags of trash and donated toys to make room for new stuff. And then as I got older, I stopped wanting new stuff, but I still really wanted to clean out my apartment. I love the cleanliness and the lightness that comes from clearing away the clutter. But the holidays…they are an explosion of stuff and clutter.

Don't throw a clutter bomb at someone! Here are some alternative gift ideas that are awesome but won't get someone kicked out of the cult of less…Read the rest at Maria's Farm Country Kitchen!

The secret meaning of romance

The key to understanding much of the snark around romance lies in the dictionary. Traditionally, romance wasn't about true love, passion and pounding hearts. If you take the time to peruse the Oxford English Dictionary (or don't, I did it for you) you'll find that romance means something else entirely:

ROMANCE: An extravagant fiction, invention, or story; a wild or wanton exaggeration; a picturesque falsehood.

Compare that to:

NOVEL: A long fictional prose narrative…typically representing character and action with some degree of realism and complexity; a book containing such a narrative. In the 17th and 18th centuries freq. contrasted with a romance, as being shorter and having more relation to real life.

Wild & wanton exaggeration vs realism and complexity? Extravagant fiction vs relation to real life?

A romance is a narrative of idealized characters and improbable events in enchanted settings, while a novel is a realistic and complex portrayal as life as we know it. Technically, a romance novel cannot exist.

Romance novel = Oxymoron

True story: According to the OED or The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, a romance novel does not exist—it is not listed in the book!—which is all the more striking considering that over eight thousand titles were published in 2010. Funny, that.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth century we see the terms romance and novel getting "confounded together" and the terms start to become interchangable. From that came a fear that a reader might not distinguish between what was real and what was impossible. And look, I'm not talking dragons and ghosts and other stuff that violates laws of nature. It's trickier. It's violations of social "laws" and the status quo. It's the maid marrying the Lord of the manor. 

I think this is why people worry that women might think romance novels are real. It's an old fear, a bad hand-me-down. So while we might not "know" the definition, we have inherited an understanding that persists, even if we don't understand why.

Interested in more? Check out watch this video and/or Dangerous Books For Girls: The Bad Reputation Of Romance Novels Explained.

Why you should be proud to read romance novels

For every woman who has hidden the cover of her book, watch this:

 

 

Read more about the book. Get the whole story here. 

Are you a proud reader of romance novels? Share this post on facebook or twitter  to be eligible to win a stash of dangerous books (read: romance novels). I'll pick one lucky winner at random and announce the winner tomorrow.

 

The Tattooed Author

I'm very dedicated to my writing. It's important to me that people know this. It's also incredibly important for an author to make her work stand out in this day and age. With all these fleeting tweets and facebook status updates, I really wanted something more permanent. Something that says forever. That's why I got a tattoo of my new book cover:

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Oh no I didn't! No, really. It's temporary. Surprise. But today we're all sharing pics of our tattoos at the  Avon Facebook Page.  I heard a rumor there might be a giveway of some kind. Like, we could maybe have matching temporary tattoos

But really, I do have a tattoo.  I got it on September 12th, 2001. I only remember this because my friend and I drove to the tattoo parlor on the 10th and had to make an appointment for another day (no walk ins, apparently). It was surreal making that very same drive just two days later after September 11th had happened. We drove past the same scenery but everything felt different. I also remembered that my mom happened to call my cell phone while I was waiting to get it done. How do mothers always know?!?!

Any tattooed romance readers out there? If you HAD to get a tat, what would it be? 

A wicked sneak peek of The Tattooed Duke

There are sneak peeks. And then there are sneak peeks. I'm not sure what that means, actually. But I do know that I took a photograph of the first paragraph of The Tattooed Duke and thought y'all might enjoy reading it.

Oh yes, there is more to read about the  The Tattooed Duke.  There are also cover flats to be won! Share this post via Facebook or Twitter to be eligible to win a signed cover flats of all the Writing Girl books. I'll pick one winner at random. Huzzah! 

But first…a sneak peek in which the Duke returns:

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Characters named Penelope

I make a little game for myself in my books: I name some secondary or even tertiary character Penelope, after my beloved dog. I can't remember if she's represented in The Heir And The Spare (does anyone know?!). But I do know she's appeared in all the others…

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"I think ALL the characters should be named after ME, Penelope."

In The Rogue And The Rival, Penelope is one of the gals at the Abbey. She always sees the very best in everyone.

In A Groom Of One's Own, Penelope is one of the hero's sisters.

In A Tale of Two Lovers, Julianna's maid is named Penny.

In The Tattooed Duke, Mrs. Penelope Buxby is the housekeeper who drinks her weight in whiskey each day. (I don't feed my Penny whiskey, in case you were wondering).

I'm currently on page 304 of Annabelle's book (!!) and still no Penelope character! It's only draft one so there's still time to work someone in. Any suggestions??? If there's a good one, I'll probably use it!

Thanksgiving Dinner!

Like most holidays, Thanksgiving is really all about the food, isn't it? This year my momma is cooking and we are introducing the husband's English folks to this very American holiday. In case you haven't planned out your menu yet, here's some of my ma's classic Thanksgiving recipes (but only the ones I like):

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Our family raises our own organic turkeys. These guys look yummy, don't they?!

Mrs. Cinquino's stuffing. It has sausage and breadcrumbs and tons of flavor. This might be my favorite Thanksgiving dish.

Pumpkin pie from scratch. You know how butter makes everything better? Well nothing makes better pie crusts than LARD. How scandalous in this day and age. But I reckon that's what they would have used in the Regency (I actually have no idea, I'm just trying to sell y'all on pie crusts made with lard )

I was listening to NPR and the woman was detailing her gravy recipe and Yea, Gods was it complicated. Chopping vegetables, straining, simmering, splash of alcohol. Lord above, Lady, you lost me at step two! My mom makes a kick ass GRAVY  and it's so EASY. Oh yeah, and turkey! Because you need crispy skin and fat for the gravy, which is the most important thing, really.

What are y'all cooking this Thanksgiving? What's your favorite Thanksgiving dish? 

What are you thankful for?

Besides family, pets, friends, good health and indoor plumbing (because those things are a given—I hope), what stuff makes your life happier, easier, more delightful? Here are some things that make my heart sing:

My dishwasher…and enough dishes to make it useful. Before my wedding registry and new apartment with a dishwasher, I was forever washing my four plates and three forks by hand. I felt like I was doing dishes all the time. No other household appliance makes feel so liberated.


My Apple products. I still remember a desktop computer, packing CD's in those cases, a discman, a big bulky camera, long distance calling cards that required punching in, oh, 800 digits. Now everything is steamlined, lightweight, easy to use and beautiful.


Room service and delivery. My idea of heaven is a boutique hotel with room service (especially if delivered by cute guys, let's be honest). There is nothing as relaxing as coffee or a meal brought to you in bed and then whisked away again. Ah, joy and raptures! Likewise, good take-out is sometimes just the thing at the end of a slogging day.  NYC has such excellent and extensive take-out offerings that it's almost worth the crazy rents.


A clean house. There is an elusive moment I am chasing and it involves work done, a clean house, and a fresh issue of People magazine. I may never get there, but a clean house brings on a satisfaction like no other.

What are you thankful for?

Behind the scenes: a romance heroine's wedding dress

There are two weddings in A Groom Of One's Own. One is an absolute disaster. The other is a triumph or a tragedy, depending upon which character you ask. This meant two wedding gowns for our heroine, Sophie, which almost compares to Kim Kardashian's three wedding dresses.

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Sophie spies the dress she wears to the Triumph/Tragedy wedding in a shop and covets it for most of the book until she had the perfect occasion to wear it. It was inspired by the dress at the left, which I saw whilst touring the Fashion Museum in Bath, long before I even wrote the proposal for the Writing Girls books.

But a year or so later I my heroine was in need of The Perfect Dress. Here's her first impression and description as it appears in the book:

The cut was simple—a high waist with short, capped sleeves and a low, rounded neckline. Clear glass beads and pearls were embroidered close together over white silk. This dress would absolutely shimmer and sparkle as it moved.

 It reminded Sophie of moonlight reflecting on freshly fallen snow.

She had never wanted a dress more than she wished for this one.

I'm not sure if the dress pictured is actually a wedding dress (the white gown didn't take off until a decade or so later, if my history is correct). But golly, I think it's pretty. And now, for the challenging question of the day:

Given the occasion, I'd wear this dress. Would you? 

Winners GALORE!

This blog post kind of makes me feel like Oprah because I'm just going to share great news and give away free stuff. Yea, free stuff!

This months celebrity gossip pop quiz was way too easy, as there were lots of perfect scores.But that's not the worst thing in the world, now is it?  This month's winner, chosen at random is Lisa W.

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Check out the funny captions for this pic!

Penelope took over my blog to ask for captions of a photo of her (of course) licking the cover of The Tattooed Duke. And let me just say, y'all are FUNNY. I lol-ed so much that I woke Penny up from a nap. She and I conferred and decided this one was a tie. Lisa Lin and Diane Patricia Diamond you are the winners!

The results are in: most of us say Fall instead of Autumn. Seriously, this is the stuff I puzzle over. I thank you all for putting the matter to rest. Alisa B Hilde, I have some brightly colored coverflats coming your way! Sounds like you need it since you're getting SNOW!

Congrats to the winners! Send me an email at mail@mayarodale.com with your mailing address and then I'll mosey on down to the post office with the goodies.

And stay tuned, kittens! More quizzes, and games and sneak peeks at that Tattooed Duke are on the way…