Welcome to Elizabeth's Blog

Never lacking for something to say, Elizabeth shares everything from All My Children to Writing and all the life that’s in-between . . .

The Cat is Out of the Bag

May 15, 2008 – 9:53 am

So I really did let it slip in my Monday blog (down below) what it is I am writing. Yes, it is true, I am writing Pippin and Dash’s book. If you can’t recall who Pippin and Dash are, then you haven’t read This Rake of Mine or Love Letters from a Duke. I’m not holding it against you, but really this news is hardly going to be as thrilling to you as it would be if you’d read those books. So if you haven’t, stop here, go read those two books and then come back so you can join in with all the other “Pippin & Dash” fanatics in a collective “huzzah!” We’ll wait for you. Really we will.

Well, of course we won’t really, because I know you P&D folks. You want their story like NOW. Well, it will come out close to now. As close to now as you can get in publishing. Because, here is the real news, Tally’s book and Pippin’s book, (now if you don’t know who Tally is, you really are in trouble, so your only choices are to go read the two aforementioned books or there is always my woefully out of date knitting blog to keep you entertained) so now if you are still with me, Tally’s and Pippin’s stories will be coming out next year back to back.

Yes, you read that correctly. In March of next year you will have Tally’s book (which, have no fear is finished and in NYC), then in April, P&D finally get their story told. No waiting 12 months. No waiting for an age. First one book, then four short weeks later, the next. Phew. And me? I’ll be the one in hand braces from all this furious and frantic typing.

But what if you can’t wait until then for something cool? Then remember, Tempted by the Night comes out August 26th, and if you can’t wait even until then, I have a really cool surprise, a freebie like you’ve never seen before, designed just for you coming out on Monday. At least I am told I will have it by Monday. And since Julia Quinn, Eloisa James and Laura Lee Guhrke are also part of the surprise, doesn’t that make you perk up and take notice. Intrigued? Come back Monday.

Anyhoo, what are you doing reading my blog when you could be reading the sneak peak for Tempted by the Night? Did I forget to mention that? I’ve posted a sneak peak. Right here.

So there it is. Tell all your friends, post it on all the boards. Sneak peak now. Very cool freebie on Monday.

Between now and then? Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ll be writing.

By Elizabeth | Posted in Romance Novels | Comments (15)

The Notebook

May 12, 2008 – 4:20 am

I was asked recently how I start writing a book. Well, I’ll let you in on a super secret: it all starts with the right notebook. Really.

And it can’t be just any notebook. I like colored ones. I have two that I work between–one that is sort of lime green and the other is bright blue. I like those colors because when my office turns into a bomb scene, either because I am in full writing/research/what the heck did I call that butler mode, my office can get a tad bit messy. So a neon bright notebook stands out and at the very least I can find my working pages.

Here is the one I’ve got started for the book I am calling Pippin & the Pirate. That’s just the working title, so don’t start looking for it.

The first step in getting a notebook together is getting just the right cover sheet. Normally this means a trip over to Candice Hern’s Print Collections where I find just the most perfect fashion plate and, ahem, borrow it for the cover. Sorry for the lopsided photo. I’ve tried for like the last 45 minutes to fix it and I’ve lost patience. But you get the point. Actually this isn’t the right print and I will probably be swapping it out for this one of Lyme Regis when it was hit with a storm last March. Fits the mood of the book better.

Well, you really shouldn’t judge a notebook by its cover, so what’s inside this notebook that makes it work, at least for me? Well, I have it divided into chapters, and then into various reference sections in the back. I like having all the chapters neatly divided because I will go back to make changes while I am writing and with the notebook at my elbow, I just flip it open to the right spot in the book, make a hasty note and go back to the pages on the screen. I never go back and rewrite sections of the book until I am completely done with the manuscript.

Since these characters, Pippin and Dash, have appeared in so many other books, I have copied out their previous scenes so I have them readily at hand. I also keep all the notes I take in my pre-writing stages. I hand write out notes and ideas about chapters before I compose it on the computer and I file these notes away once the chapter is complete because sometimes when I am rewriting, I go back to those initial thoughts as a starting point to see where it was I intended to go with a scene, what happened when I was writing it and if the final sequence is missing something. This is what a note page might look like:

In the research section, I currently have pages I’ve copied from the internet on Turkish Delight. Well, who said hunting recipes on the internet isn’t a good use of your time! I’ll be adding pictures and diagrams of ships, history timelines and fashion plates from the years that the story covers. My notebook is like my security blanket, but also the end of my procrastination and hemming and hawing about getting to work. With a notebook at the ready, there is no excuse but to write.

So you’ll excuse me while I get to work . . .

By Elizabeth | Posted in Writing | Comments (2)

Weekend Advice

May 8, 2008 – 4:00 am

Okay, the weekend is nearly here and I know some of you are probably making plans. Good idea. And even if you haven’t, I have already done your weekend entertainment itinerary. I know, I know, how kind of me. You’ll thank me even more once you’ve gone and seen:

Ironman.

Believe you me, if I can find a way to go see it again, you’ll find my backside planted in a multiplex with a bucket of popcorn and my eyes all over me some Robert Downey Jr. Now, first off, I am HUGE action film, superhero sucker of a movie goer. But I never get choked up over an action film. You won’t catch me getting a bit misty eyed over Spiderman or feeling the need to give Arnold a hug. But damn, if RD Jr doesn’t have your heart beating and make you feel his pain. He’s always been a great actor, but he’s hit his stride with this role.

And even for all the big bangs and crashes, it is at its heart just a really, really good movie, great acting and some wonderful comedy. An afternoon with Ironman is an afternoon well spent.

But then you might be feeling, well, in need of a little culture. You know, what my husband calls “those old ladies in bonnets” movies. Well, get your bonnet out and settle down for Cranford on Masterpiece Theater. Even if you missed the first installment this past Sunday, there is a good chance your local PBS station will be repeating the first episode before this Sunday’s next installment. Find the time, grab the remote and settle in for a beautiful story of small town England in 1842 and on the verge of finding itself in, horrors of all horrors, the “modern age.” Add to that, some gracious and sublime acting. Even the skeptic in the house, who was dismayed that I was calling dibs on the TV during the sacred 10:00 o’clock news, was riveted after the first hour. And make sure you have a hankie or two nearby by the end. Even my husband was crying. You can use the one you nearly need when you watch RDJr.

By Elizabeth | Posted in Movies, Television, Movie Stars | Comments (3)

My Favorite Event

May 5, 2008 – 4:27 am

I know, an author shouldn’t have favorites, but I really, really, love going to the Rose City Chapter’s Reader’s Luncheon for Literacy. Ah, let me count the reasons”

1) I go down in the most civilized form of travel available. The train. And when you take the train from Seattle to Portland, you have views like this:

And this (South Puget Sound):
And you can get a little work done:
No one confiscates your banana or your water bottle. You can work with the scenery rolling by and no worries about I-5 traffic and parking when you get to Portland. In fact, I walked from the train station to my hotel. How very green of me. We won’t mention the cupcake I picked up on the way from Cupcake Jones. Thank goodness they don’t have one of these in Seattle.2) And when I get to Portland, I stay at the same hotel as the luncheon, the Governor, which is this wonderful, elegant old hotel that has been lovingly restored. I had this wonderful corner room, ALL TO MYSELF. It was bright and sunny and I spent an hour curled up in a chair and read, feeling quite decadent. And there was the cupcake to help with that as well. This was just a huge treat for me, because I get very little time that isn’t wrapped up in writing, and family and kid stuff. And then if my rapture wasn’t complete enough, look what they handed me when I checked in:

Are you freakin’ kiddin’ me?! Room service Starbucks? I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. That or they were going to have to evict me. Now after I got over the idea of having a man in a uniform deliver my steaming hot, non-fat, one sugar in the raw latte (and walked my lazy butt downstairs and got my own) I took a knitting class that night at Knit-Purl, which also happens to be right across the street–which only added to my feeling so pampered–no one to cook for, no one to get some where. Just me knitting away for three hours with other knit geeks. Pinch me, I’d gone to heaven.

3) But here’s the icing on the cake, not to be confused with pile of frosting that was on my Cupcake Jones: the luncheon. Where I get to see old friends:

(Delilah Marvelle, Christina Arbini and Kelli Estes looking pretty) And there are the raffle tickets that I buy:
And there are the people who win the baskets:
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o265/elizboknits/DSCF3171.jpg
Now I have a reputation of always hosting the lucky table. For two years running it was Earlee from Idaho who would sit at my table and win more baskets than would fit in her car. But this year, these were my lucky tablemates. Oh, yes, they won all that–books, chocolate, treats and goodies. And it even works for me, because I won one too–but then I entrusted it to Kelli to bring back to Seattle, loaded with goodies and chocolate, so you all are my witnesses on that if I get an empty bucket and a couple of used, chocolate stained paperbacks from her.3. I go to hear the speaker. They never miss. And this year was no exception. My good friend Suzanne Macpherson gave a hilarious talk and I made a fool of myself laughing way too loud. But she and her Barbies were hilarious. And, Suz, I still maintain that my Tammy doll was not the Barbie wanna-be slut you described. My Tammy was always a proper lady.
I think I smiled like this all the way home. Because it really is my favorite event.Got something you really like to do every year? Share! We could all use weekends like this and suggestions are always welcome.

By Elizabeth | Posted in Booksignings, Travel, Reading | Comments (12)

You’ll never believe what I found

April 28, 2008 – 4:17 am

sitting in the front row of my Jane Austen talk last week. In fact, the entire night was sort of a series of unexpected moments.

But before I give the real shock away, let me tell you, I am so relieved those chats are over. While I’m usually pretty confident I know more about the era than the average bear, I always get nervous before I do a talk on Jane Austen. Because she is so beloved, so studied, so written about. So I did my talk by skirting Jane and just talking about her era. That is fun. Sharing those tidbits–like Jane losing her writing desk while she was traveling because it looked like everyone else’s traveling desk–sort of the ubiquitous black suitcase you see today going round and round on the baggage carousel. Or how people then overspent, run up debts and built houses and lives they couldn’t afford.

Ah, the world and mores and times may change, but people, God bless them, never really do.

For me, going to the talk out at the Snoqualmie Library was like taking a step into my past. I used to live out there, in the woods, near the river. When it was really the sticks and no one lived so far off the beaten track. But these days, civilization has discovered what my parents knew all those years ago when they moved out there. The place is gorgeous. Look at this million dollar view from one of the housing developments I passed on the way there:

And then there is the view from Starbucks. (If you grew up out there, you’d chuckle as I did when I saw it. I mean, Starbucks in Snoqualmie? ) This is the hometown of the Mar-T Cafe, of Twin Peaks fame, for goodness sakes, hardly the suburban/urban homeland for a skinny grande with a raw sugar.
So if that wasn’t surprising enough, imagine as I began my talk with this:
Yes, no need to check your monitor resolution. That is four high school guys sitting in the front row of my talk on Jane Austen’s England. And if that wasn’t enough to rattle me, it was snowing when I walked to my car. Yes, snowing. The last week in April. In Western Washington. But come on, I’d seen enough that night not to be shocked. I was even on the lookout for Bigfoot hitchhiking as I drove home. I bet he’s a caramel macchiato sort of guy, don’t ya think?

So, hey, what’s surprised you lately?

By Elizabeth | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (5)