Historical Romance Panel Now on YouTube

Recently, historical romance author Elizabeth Everett and Liz Donatelli of the Reader Seeks Romance Channel invited me to join a panel for an episode of Unchaperoned, "The Evolution & Future of Historical Romance." Author Eloisa James, Sarah Ficke—romance fiction historian and English professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill— and I had a lively discussion with our hosts.

We debated “Old School" & "New School" styles of historical romance storytelling, changes in covers, strange occurrences and/or ideas in historical romance marketing, writing historical romance for modern audiences, and the tremendous popularity of Bridgerton. We discussed our influences and aims and the evolution of the genre.

Heady stuff, yes—and our panel was Part One, with Part Deux coming soon.

The program lasts about an hour, but that hour went quickly for us, as I hope it will do for you, and offer some food for thought. The link is below.

The Evolution & Future of Historical Romance PART 1

In other news: A quick reminder that I’ll be at the Ashland Public Library in Ashland, Massachusetts for a RomCon on 18 May. You can find details here.

And the third Difficult Dukes book is in production. As soon I learn the release date, I’ll post it here.

At Long Last, She Wrote "The End"

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.

The Two Nerdy History Girls Return. Again.

Once more, Meena Jain, of the Ashland Public Library here in Massachusetts, has invited Susan Holloway Scott and me for a session of nerdy history. Susan and I retired from writing Two Nerdy History Girls blog posts a few years ago, but the blog is still there. Every so often, I pay a visit, to look up this or that.

Our Zoom event, though, offers us time to take questions from our readers. It’s fun for a number of reasons. We never know what subject will come up. Sometimes we get to debunk myths. Sometimes we find ourselves in that grey area of “it depends.” But being nerdy history girls, we love the challenge. In my case, it can get my brain out of the Work-in-Slow-Progress* and onto Something Completely Different. I hope you’ll join us. Here is some useful information:

Virtual - The Two Nerdy History Girls Ride Again!

Wednesday 10 January 2024 at 7pm ET

You’ll find event details here.

You can register here.

You can get in touch with Ashland Public Library via this email address.

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One other Ashland Public Library note: Saturday 18 May 2024 brings Spring RomCon from 10-4pm. I will be there, along with a stellar cast of authors. If you think you’ll be in the area, you might want to mark your calendar. More info to come.

* Very nearly done!