Maya Rodale's Blog: Maya Rodale's Blog, page 39

Who are the Writing Girls?

They are four fearless gals who buck conventions and defy expectations to write for Regency London's most popular newspaper, The London Weekly. And they are…

Sophie Harlow writes Miss Harlow's Marriage In High Life  and lands a "double duke" in A Groom Of One's Own ...after having been jilted at the altar!
Lady Julianna Somerset pens the gossip column Fashionable Intelligence as the Lady Of Distinction in A Tale of Two Lovers. Lud, does she spark some scandals!
Eliza Fielding is often in disguise and undercover, penning expose stories. (I'm writing her story now. All I will say is this: there is a tattooed duke.) Keep an eye on my coming soon page for more details.
Annabelle Swift doles out advice and pines away for The London Weekly's dashing publisher, Derek Knightly. (Title and story coming soon!)

The writing girls were an idea so nice I thought it twice!

[image error]I had long entertained the thought of setting a romance series around a newspaper. It seemed ripe for drama, tension, and gossip. Mainly, I liked the idea of a dashing editor—smart, business saavy, ruthless, gorgeous. The fast and frantic pace of a printers, and the scratch of quill on paper, meetings in coffeehouses, scandalous front page stories.

While I was living in London, I was searching for some new stories. Who were the heroines of a newspaper romance? Writers, secretaries, gently bred young ladies? Who were their heroes? What they heck was an 1820's newspaper like?

It all came together in my head during long walks around town, as I "woolgathered", soaked up the atmosphere and did some research. And then I sat down to write my proposal for The Writing Girl Romance Series.

And when that was finished, I cleaned out my files and found scraps of paper from years earlier. I had written notes in the Dallas airport on the way home from RWA nationals…London Weekly, gossip columnists…

Honestly, I had quite forgotten! I took it as a sign that these four uppity gals were meant to be.

Happy Farm Cats

Sometimes it's just one of those days when you need to look at pictures of cute things, like puppies and kittens. Today is one of those days. As y'all know, I work on a farm half the time and we've got quite a gang of cats that lounge around in the sun, chase mice, flirt with visitors, stalk the chickens and otherwise live quite the life on an organic farm. Meow!

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This is Samson. He has one eye. Here he is napping. Lucky cat.

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Samson looking for a drink.

When the weather warms up, we have fish in the little pond. The cats pay attention.

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Looks like Samson, but it's not! This one is Pumpkin. Each cat sticks to his or her own area of the farm.

Apparently, straw bales are great for napping.

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This is Brad. Yes, named after that Brad.

His comrades are Angelina and Jolie, who live in the greenhouse.

These are just a few…and we have quite a few more.

Meow, happy cats!

Answers and winners of the Celebrity Gossip Pop Quiz!

The husband and I hosted our first ever pub quiz. He did the Serious Questions. I did the highly enjoyable celebrity gossip picture round. Yesterday we had the questions. Today we have the answers…And a winner of A Tale of Two Lovers and A Groom Of One's Own. Congratulations to….Well, we had a few ties for the right answers, but the bonus question was "the decider."

And the winner is…SUSAN! who will get both Writing Girl books! Congratulations!

With runners up Erin and Morgan, who I think should get a copy of A Tale of Two Lovers!

(Send me your mailing addresses via email pls: mail@mayarodale.com)

Come back next month for more gossip, trivia and prizes. I'll have been to Book Expo so there will be a whole stash of goodies to giveway

And now, the answers:

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1. What is her maiden name?

Victoria Adams

2. She is with child. Is it a boy or a girl?

It's a girl!

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3. This is Blake Shelton, country star. I think he's way hotter in other pictures but a gal can't google all day. What TV show is he on?

T he Voice

4. What sassy, gun-totin' country gal is he engaged to? I heart her, btw.

Miranda Lambert

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5. What sitcom is she in? Mike & Molly

6. What highly anticipated movie that opens May 13th is she in? Bridesmaids

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7. Awww! They just had twins! What are their names? Moroccan and Monroe

8. True or false: The boy's name was inspired by the decor in a room in their NYC apartment. TRUE!

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9. How many middle names does this guy have? (Looking for a # not "a lot" or "many")

3

10. What are their new titles?

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

BONUS: How does one address a duke? (Funny: NO ONE at the pub quiz knew this.) Your Grace!

Celebrity Gossip Pop Quiz!

The husband and I hosted our first ever pub quiz. He did the Serious Questions. I did the highly enjoyable celebrity gossip picture round. You, dear reader, can have a go at the questions for a chance to win a signed copy of A Tale of Two Lovers and A Groom Of One's Own. Post your answers in the comments, and I'll pick a winner from those that got 'em all right. Google if you must…or test yourself: what do you recall from last week's issue of People magazine?

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1. What is her maiden name?

2. She is with child. Is it a boy or a girl?

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3. This is Blake Shelton, country star. I think he's way hotter in other pictures but a gal can't google all day. What TV show is he on?

4. What sassy, gun-totin' country gal is he engaged to? I heart her, btw.

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5. What sitcom is she in?

6. What highly anticipated movie that opens May 13th is she in?

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7. Awww! They just had twins! What are their names?

8. True or false: The boy's name was inspired by the decor in a room in their NYC apartment.

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9. How many middle names does this guy have? (Looking for a # not "a lot" or "many")

10. What are their new titles?

BONUS: How does one address a duke? (Funny: NO ONE at the pub quiz knew this.)

The answers and the winner will be posted tomorrow!

Great things about Tony Haile

This was going to be a Valentine's Day blog, which should tell you everything you need to know about the revolting sappiness about to come. Don't say I didn't warn you. Without further ado, here are great things about Tony Haile.

He's hilarious, like, all the time. Whether it's first thing in the morning, or the middle of the night, or even the middle of a fight, he always has a sense of humor and always shares it. You can watch this video to see how funny he is. I don't always laugh (my own sense of humor is off duty from 9 pm until my first cup of coffee in the morning) but it's always wonderful to be with someone who lives on the funny side of life.

He walks the dog in the middle of the night. This means that in the dead of a frigid, dreary, wet January night I can stay warm and snug in bed. This is fantastic.

He does crazy, surprise romantic things. There is a whole list in this article. The guy has a great imagination and he puts it to good use. Speaking of romance, he also came up with the greatest google ad EVER (click on this image to make it bigger and readable): [image error]

Don't click on it folks, or he'll have to pay for it. That's not how I want to reward such romance. It goes to his website, www.tonyhaile.com. He blogs, in particular about how I have improved his taste in music (ye haw, y'all). Omg and he also got me super fantastic seats to my fav country crush.

He is pretty smart and reads almost as fast as me. Because he reads so much, he knows a lot (almost as much as he thinks he knows). It makes for new and interesting conversations, which is important–especially when you live in a small NYC apartment without a TV, as we do.  Maybe instead this should say that it's his curiosity and quest to always be learning new stuff that's remarkable and wonderful. It's too bad, though, that he reads slower than this girl, but no one can be perfect.

He rhymed peritoneum and museum in a naughty/romantic limerick. For me. See above about romance and humor. Clever. It certainly trumps "Roses are red, violets are blue…" and other such rubbish. Omg he has me saying "rubbish!"

He works really damned hard. Up at 5:00 am, working til 9:00 pm, hitting the office on Saturday…He puts in the hours and, more importantly, the passion. Fortunately, we share these workaholic tendencies. Look, I never said we were cool.  His work ethic and dedication is inspiring.

He's 5' 11" , oops so sorry I meant to say, 6′ 1″  so he can reach high things for me. Whole new worlds are available to me now.

He's the kind of man that will fly to another country on a moment's notice for his friends. Crazy? Maybe. Or just amazing.

Happy Birthday, baby!

Why I think bookstores are tanking (and it's not ebooks)

Lately I've spent more time thinking about browsing in bookstores instead of actually doing it. I have fond memories of strolling the aisles, finding treasures on the tables up front, especially on that "strange but true" table, or whatever it's called. I'm craving this experience again. And I'm thinking about the reasons I haven't been doing it lately. Here's why:

The Romance Section

I stopped going to Indie bookstores because they didn't carry romance (the snobs). I wanted my serious non-fiction with a side of sweet, and didn't want to go to two different stores to get it. Big Book Retailers: 1, Indie: 0. But once there, I saw these were only marginally better.

The other day I took my friend to B&N to look for my book. I lead us to the romance section–up to the topmost floor, all the way in the back, with the section heading facing the windows, not the rest of the store. "How did you know this was here?" he asked, particularly impressed as I had never been to this location before. I knew because for some reason, B&N puts romance fiction in it's "mad wife in the attic" section of the store. Far away, hidden shamefully in the top corner of the attic. As if they didn't want you to find it.

Given that the romance genre blows every category out of the water in terms of sales, audience, everything…Given that romance readers buy MORE books than anyone, across multiple catagories…WHY would you give the romance section such shameful, hard-to-get placement?? It's like the porn section in the videostore. Sheesh!

What they're telling us romance readers is that we should be ashamed of what we read. So we'll just go online and order it in ebook format–kind of the equivalent of a brown paper bag book cover.

They don't have the book I want…but they have a lot of toys and crap

Once I found the romance section, I saw they didn't have my book (the losers. Unless people bought it out, then Je love!). Real Bookstores do have the problem of finite shelf-space, which makes it dueced hard to compete with online sellers and ebooks. I was speaking to my mom about this and she remarked that the bookstores nowadays are often selling non-book items, like toys and office supplies and other stuff. I totally get it: diversify. And yet, that is compounding the finite shelf-space problem. There are fewer and fewer titles to browse, which reduces foot traffic, which reduces sales. And when we do go, the store has stupid toys and not the book we want, so we learn to bypass the store and go straight to Amazon.

So: don't even try to have everything. Excel at say, new releases and make it easy to order backlists online. From your store. And offer other experiential stuff because–guess what–I can order anything I want online.

Accessibility

One of my three local B&N's closed, and unfortunately, it was the best one. See, the Union Square store doesn't allow dogs past the 1st floor (so I can't access the romance section in the attic, so why bother going?!), and the 8th street one is good but small. The 22nd street one…ahhh. All on one vast floor. The pup and I would take our afternoon walk to the bookstore, stroll, and carry heavy bags home (weightlifting!). I realize now that when this store closed, I kind of stopped going because I couldn't combine it with a non-negotiable task. Which is probably why Walmart sells so many books: because people are already there for groceries and diapers and oh heck, I'll just browse this section…I know as I've gotten busier, my indulgence time has decreased. Make it easy for me, please.

I should note that I refer to B&N a lot because that's what is closest to me. In high school, I went to Borders because it was closer. So really, location does seem to matter.

Places to sit

Ok, so imagine this: you've got an armful a books, a coffee, a giant handbag. You're trying to read the first page to see if you want the book and it's a juggling act to do so. Or maybe you wandered in because you have some time to kill–between classes, waiting for a friend, before the movie, while your friend is in the stupid shop next door that you hate….

There's no place to sit! Sheesh! Reading is not a stand up activity, generally. Put in some comfy chairs and let a potential buyer sit down and really experience that first page of the book. It'll be much better if they're comfortable. Yes, some a**hole is going to sit there for 5 hours reading a book for free. But the rest of us won't and we'll interpret that this is a welcoming place to come, hang out, stay a while. Give us this little kindness and we'll probably repay with a purchase.

You know that "mad wife in the attic" aka romance section? It's ALWAYS packed with people sitting on the floor, hiding out, flipping through books with heavy bags at their sides. Give us some dignity, Barnes and Noble. Give us a freaking chair.

For that matter, do you know why I will usually pick Starbucks over other coffee places? Because I know they will have fairly clean restrooms, for free. Make sure these are in your store.

And speaking of that armful of books…give us a shopping cart! Or a basket! Or a sturdy bag! Help me buy more from you.

Own your bookstore-ness

What can't people get where they're book shopping online? Atmosphere. Other people. Curation of titles, a bit. You can have coffee and listen to music and chat with your friends while shopping online, but it involves too many browser windows to navigate pleasantly.

Here's some questions: Why aren't these stores lending space to all those RWA chapters and writers groups? Why aren't they serving alcohol? (seriously! Lady Jane's Salon is  such a hit, I think, becuase of the booze/fun factor. It's why our reading series is packed and B&N author appearances can be painful). Do the bookstores even do events anymore? I don't know. How am I supposed to know? Why aren't titles discounted at author book signings?

I recently read that 84% of books are bought by women. Why isn't there childcare in bookstores? They offer that at my local supermarket, so why can't they do that at bookstores, sparing the mums and the rest of us from whiny kids? Then perhaps we can sit down, read that first page in silence, an experience that glorious moment of becoming immersed in the book with our feet up and no distractions.

Because here's the other thing: it's not just the book we're buying, but the experience of reading. That is what you should be selling, bookstores.

In conclusion

Maybe the Bookstores tried all of these things and consumers didn't respond. Fair enough. I've happily incorporated an ereader into my life, but I still LOVE my actual books.  But  I do not need more books. I don't even have time to read the ones on my TBR piles. However, I am having a serious hankering for the bookstore browsing experience. I hope that activity doesn't go away. So perhaps I'll go shop the first floor of B&N on Penny's afternoon walk. Maybe I'll even buy a book.

Fashionable Intelligence: Lady Jane's Salon

Let's be honest: ideas dreamed up in bars often don't hold up in the light of day. But sometimes one comes up with greatness when scheming and plotting under the influence. It was over two years ago that Hope Tarr, Leanna Renee Hieber and Ron Hogan and I came up with the idea for Lady Jane's Salon and we're delighted that it's still going strong with all kinds of romance authors reading every month to a crowd of readers, writers and industry types.

As one of the co-founders of the salon, I had read there before–twice, in fact. For my third appearance, I wanted to do something different. So I did not read from my new release, A Tale Of Two Lovers. Instead, I had the husband read the part of the hero, since he has so many heroic qualities, like a British Accent. For the part of Lady Julianna, my lady friend Denise did the honors as she has a degree in acting and more importantly was a bit of the inspiration behind the character. Both ladies are quite "forthright."

Cute fact: Two Lovers was dedicated to these two!

I was so excited I forgot to bring my camera, which didn't matter as I was too busy chatting with my friend Lisa

Salon go-ers were also treated to a reading from Alaya Dawn Johnson's vampire novel, Moonshine, and Beth Anne Miller's novel Into The Scottish Mist. Colleen Gleason sent goodies! So we covered vampires, the Scottish Highlands paranormal style and the Regency all in one evening–just another night at Lady Jane's!

The salon has been running for over two years now (!) and we've got our biggest, awesomest, fantastical line up to date at our June/July salon. Save the date, kittens, because this is not one to be missed!

Lady Jane's Salon~RWA Extravaganza

Date: June 27* (not the usual date, take note!)

Time: 7:00 until….oh, this one will go late!

Who's reading:

Sarah Maclean

Dianna Love Snell

Leanna Renee Hieber

Karen Rose

Carrie Lofty

and….

Eloisa James !

The Prince's Speech

Yesterday, I had the great  honor of seeing His Royal Highness The Prince Of Wales give a speech. It wasn't due to my work as a writer of romance, as would be fitting, but because of the other half of my double life. You see, The Prince and I share a mutual passion for organic farming. Or, another way to phrase that might be feeding the world forever, without ruining it in the process.  The situation that the Prince outlines so well in his speech is that we are currently farming (and feeding ourselves) in a very broken, unsustainable way and the time to act is now.

[image error]But this blog post is not about feeding the world, or organic farming. It's about the Prince's speech. I've heard many, many on this topic but his stood out because of a few things. To start, his accent. I live with a Brit, but the Prince's accent is different. Frankly, he sounds like a Prince ought to and perhaps like all of our Dukes and heroes would. And then his speech was so eloquent, rational and thoughtful and contains phrases that delight the writer in me, like "rashly take for granted" or "condemned as unfit for purpose" or "respecting the integrity of nature."

While he outlines the problems, he also outlines a solution–one that isn't overbearing or reliant on personal sacrifice or a lot of government. If we include all the costs of producing food and all the "side effects" like health care costs, organic farming is truly the most affordable option. The Prince calls this accounting for sustainability.

The speech is brilliant. The Prince was humble, thoughtful and witty. If you want to learn about this topic, this is a good place to start. Or if you just want to hear Royalty talk, this is a good place for that too!

The Prince also mentioned that this speech was a shift from the last one he gave, which was sharing embarrassing stories about his son at the wedding reception.

You can listen to the speech here.
The video highlights are here.
Or you can read the whole darn thing here.

PS: My mom met the Prince!

PPS: The speech was part of Washington Post Live's conference on The Future of Food.

FAQ: Seriously, you get up at 5:00 am ?!

It's true: usually I get up at 5:00 am. Sometimes I even get up at 4:30. Or I like to loll about and sleep in until 6:00. I'm an early bird. I like the quiet. I like getting that head start on the day. I like that by the time I've hit the office at 9:00  am, I've written a few pages of a novel. A farmer I know says that sleeping til 8 makes him feel like the day is half over.

Look, this requires seriously strong coffee. Much to the chagrin of my physical therapists, this coffee fueled writing binge at dawn usually takes place in bed. This is not an ergonomically correct workspace, but it's warm and lovely and the perfect place for writing romance.

There's important stuff in life that always seems to get pushed aside—that novel you always wanted to write, exercising, eating breakfast. For me, making those things a priority means making sure it's the first thing I do, before all my plans are derailed by an explosion of email and meetings and traffic jams. One of my frequent tips for writers is to write every day,  preferably first thing.

I get up crazy early to make sure these important things get done. Otherwise they'll get pushed off until some "later" that never arrives, or when it does I'm not in the mood. By the end of the day, I'm exhausted. By 9:00 pm, I am asleep. But then I'm awake, and refreshed first thing the next morning. So yes, I get up at 5:00 am and (most of the time) I like it.

Any other early birds out there?

Inspiration in unlikely places

What does a cowboy poet in Wyoming and the first ten minutes of a 1942 movie have in common? They're all the inspiration behind A Tale Of Two Lovers, a Regency romance featuring a rake (naturally, darlings) and a stubborn, gossip-writing heroine (but of course).

I'm blogging about inspiration in unlikley places with the Vauxhall Vixens today and one lucky commenter will win a copy of A Tale of Two Lovers! Feeling lucky?!

Click here to see the full post.