At Long Last, She Wrote "The End"

A woman wearing books for clothing.

G. Spratt, The Circulating Library, c. 1830. Rijkmuseum

Actually, I never write “The End” at the end of my manuscripts. When the words stop, that seems to be a big enough clue.

So I didn’t write it this time, either, but all who have been wondering when in blazes I’d ever finish the Blackwoods’ story now have the answer. Thursday 11 January. About 10:30pm. It’s now in my editor’s hands. After she reads it, she will return it to me with questions and notes and such, and I will make the necessary revisions. That is to say, if she doesn’t decide it’s beyond hope and gently suggests I find another profession.

If, however, she is able to work with it, and I can make it better for her (actually, for you), it will then be turned over to the copy editor, who’ll go through it, looking for inconsistencies and grammatical insanities and oddities. Meanwhile he/she will be putting in the hieroglyphs that the printers understand for formatting. Then it’s my turn again, to review what the copy editor hath wrought, and add or subtract my own things. It’s my last chance to make any significant changes.

Then it goes to the printer and gets made to look like a book, but not the final book, because I get to go over it once more, looking for errors that somehow the ten thousand people who’ve gone over this thing have missed. And of course, no matter what, no matter how many people check and re-check, it will go out into the world with a mistake or two. There are always sneaky little devils that manage to hide from all those probing eyes. Ask any author. There’s even an Internet meme about it.

All of which is to say, it’ll be a while before the book is in fact a book you can buy in a shop or online. However, when I have a publication date, I’ll let you know. Or you’ll be able to tell by the screaming and laughing and crying, which you will hear over great distances. My neighbors will see me dancing in the street, champagne glass aloft.

It’s been a long journey. Thank you for waiting so patiently.




"Ten Things I Hate About the Duke" is here!

At last, at last! Ten Things I Hate About the Duke, Difficult Dukes Book # 2, has been released into the world. (Well, the North American part of it, anyway.*)

When last we saw the Duke of Ashmont, in A Duke in Shining Armor, he was doing a great job of making a hopeless case of himself. I’m not sure I’ve ever created a hero quite so out of control. But I write romance, and so I have to give the guy a way to pull himself out of the self-destructive spiral. Also, I write comedy, which means there ought to be laughs on the way to his Happily Ever After.

Enter Cassandra Pomfret, inspired by Katharina in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. And then, lucky me, another work inspired by the play, the teen film Ten Things I Hate About You, provided a title I could adapt.

Shakespeare’s treatment of Katharina always bothered me. And so, as has happened in some of my other books, I’ve done a rewrite. Yes, it takes a lot of nerve to rewrite Shakespeare—which may account for my book’s taking three years!—and I changed it so much that I can hear him saying, “Prithee, beldam, what hast thou done to mine genius work?” Or something to that effect, with amusing Elizabethan curses.

Robert Cruikshank, Chelsea Stadium Shield 1834, courtesy Lewis Walpole Library

You will find that only a few elements of Ten Things I Hate About the Duke echo elements in the Shakespeare play. The rest is turned upside down and inside out or discarded altogether. Most important, in my Fractured Fairy Tale version, the correct person is reformed.

Usually, my blog posts are sporadic. Months of silence pass. Not so this month. You can expect several, mainly on the various bits of history that turn up in the story. Also, there are illustrations of just about every element of the story on the Ten Things I Hate About the Duke board of my Pinterest page. And you can listen to an audio excerpt here. And just in case this isn’t enough, you can expect Facebook and Instagram posts. I promise that this barrage will go on for only a short time, because, after all, I need to write the Duke of Blackwood’s story.

Mainly I hope you enjoy Ashmont and Cassandra’s story—and I thank you for your patience, support, and encouragement throughout its long development. How lucky I am to have readers like you!

George Cruikshank, “The Headache” 12 February 1819, courtesy Lewis Walpole Library.

*As usually happens, unfortunately, my readers in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand will not be able to access certain editions on quite the same schedule. Due to licensing and other technicalities, there tends to be a lag time in availability. We’re doing better with this, and I hope the delay will be short this time around. Meanwhile, I apologize for the added wait.

Scandal Wears Satin Has an Audio Problem

I recently learned from a reader that it is currently impossible to download a legitimate Scandal Wears Scandal audiobook.

Let me just step aside for a minute and swear violently.

OK. I’m better now. Somewhat better.

As happened last year with two other of my Dressmakers books, we have a case of an expired sublicense. Thanks to the reader who called my attention to the problem, I’ve alerted my publisher, who’s proceeding forthwith to reissue the audiobook. Unfortunately, in cases like these forthwith proceeds at a slower pace than we’d like, and this audiobook will not be available until 3 November 2020. I’m not sure why we have a longer wait this time than last time. It might have to do with HarperAudio doing the publishing now. If by any chance the audiobook becomes available at an earlier date, I’ll be sure to let you know.

My apologies for the annoyance. Authors should be issued magic wands to take care of these matters instantly. But then, if I had a magic wand, my current WIP would have been finished a year ago.