Wonderful Workspaces!

by Anna Campbell

We have a new arts channel on cable TV here (STVDIO) and I'm having a lovely time, especially on a Monday which is devoted to writers and writing.

My favorite show on this network over the last few weeks is The Book Show which is produced for the British cable outfit Sky TV. And my favorite part of The Book Show is the bit where they show a writer's workspace. Anyway, here's the website: http://thebookshow.skyarts.co.uk/

One of the things I love about The Book Show is that they don't just go in for high-falutin' literary types. Everybody gets a look-in. So far, among the interviewees, I've seen Sue Townsend and a couple of thriller writers, including Robert Harris, and Tracey Chevalier who I met at last year's Brisbane Writers Festival (yeah, I know, that definitely counts as name dropping!) and Marian Keyes.

Marian Keyes by the way gave a really impassioned defense of women's fiction. As she said, why do people feel they can make value judgments based on what women read? And what's really sad, she said were the 'collaborators'. Women who accept these value judgments at face value as if things that women like are automatically considered beneath serious consideration.

But that's a rant for another time! I haven't read MK but after seeing her interviewed, I'm interested! She definitely is one smart cookie.

What I want to talk about today is the regular segment about writers' workspaces which I find absolutely fascinating.

We've had a couple of very elegant garrets high in the top of terrace houses. Fay Weldon's fascinated me - it's a very workaday office with steel shelving and a plywood desk at the university where she teaches. The one yesterday was a military historian called Richard Beevor who writes in a restored barn in the Cotswolds with views over the fields.

The one that really filled me envy - perhaps because like me she writes romantic fiction although in a very different style - was Jilly Cooper's workspace. It was a converted 14th-century dovecote again in the Cotswolds. By the way, clearly when you've made it in Britain as a writer, you HAVE to move to the Cotswolds, snort!

This beautiful space in a stone building with views out across classic English rolling hills made my mouth water. Bookshelves everywhere. And cats. Jilly says she loves having the cats around when she's writing - as she put it you spend so much time on your own when you're a writer, it's nice to have something alive in the vicinity. But something alive that lets you keep working!

Anyway, I took some photos of my current workspace only to discover that the new computer objected to linking with the camera. Sigh. As a result, I was stuck going through my old files.

These photos are slightly out of date - I've got another corkboard now in front of the desk, for example. And the garden, bless its cotton socks, is considerably more overgrown than it is in the picture.

But you get the idea - books, mess, postcards, computer, desk (which I love - my father rescued it from a Telstra disposal sale and did it up for me when I was in uni. I still can't believe they threw out solid walnut in favor of chipboard back in the late 70s!). View of my garden outside.

So what's your workspace like? If it's like Jilly Cooper's, by the way, I may never speak to you again, snork! Do you have a favorite room in your house? Let's talk about our habitat! And by the way, only the rooster gets to boast of his bad habitats! Groan! Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Writer%27s%20Life
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People Who "Get It"

posted by thap gump

I'm not really here. I'm in Washington D.C. at the RWA conference eagerly awaiting tonight's big Rita/Golden Heart awards ceremony. Here's hoping I'm not hung-over from being wined and dined along with the other CasaBabes by our publisher and editor last night! But I digress...

So here I am at the National conference and I have no doubt I'm having THE BEST TIME EVER!

Yes, they are expensive and often the timing is terrible, but I know there are lots of reasons to attend writing conferences.

• the chance to meet editors and agents face-to-face
• great workshops to improve your knowledge and craft
• the latest and greatest info on what the publishers are buying and selling
• rubbing elbows with 'famous' authors and being inspired by their speeches
But for me, BY FAR the best thing about attending any writing conference, but especially National is being with other people who "get it."

I remember my first RWA National, 2005 in Reno. I was utterly overwhelmed by all the crowds, books, general buzz of excitement. But the best thing was when I realized that everyone at the conference "got it" about romance writing and reading.

Because many of them had been there, they understood about pouring heart and soul into the writing of a book only to have a form rejection slapped on it. Heck, they understood about rejection in general and how it was hard not to personalize even the "good"ones.

They understood about sitting day after day in front of a keyboard and monitor pecking out a few words here and there, or typing in a frenzy to get the thought down before it escaped. They knew about forcing "the muse" to produce pages whether it or you wanted to or not.

Just like me, they had walked up and down the aisles of a store staring blankly at the shelves and seeing nothing, because characters were 'talking' inside their heads. And the readers "got it" too! They knew that the characters we writers create are very real and considered and discussed them that way!

Discovering people who "get it" has been a revelation and a life-saver for me! People who "get it" have kept me going in spite of all the rejections and doubt demons. Both the readers and writers have boosted my confidence in my writing when it was at the lowest possible ebb. They have invested themselves in my characters and stories as much as I have (I met one of my CPs and several good writing buddies at conferences).

Knowing and being with people who "get it" truly makes all the hassles and aggravation and frustrations of the writing life worthwhile! So please accept my most humble THANK YOU for all you do and for "getting it!" I absolutely do not know what I'd do without you!

What about you? Who are some of the people in your life who "get it?" Be they DH, CP, family or friends, how did you find them?

And what have you been doing while the rest of us are whooping it up in DC?Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Writer%27s%20Life
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The Road To Romance

posted by thap gump

Next Tuesday I'm excited to be a guest speaker at the Solano County Library in Fairfield, California as part of their Summer Reading Program for Adults. The librarians asked me to talk about my experiences as a romance reader and writer and I thought I'd give you all a sneak peek at part of what I plan to say.

My mother is the one chiefly responsible for setting me on the winding path that eventually became my road to romance. She loved to read the great old gothic romances by Victoria Holt, Phyllis A. Whitney, and Mary Stewart.

Back in the day (all right, I'll admit it, I'm a child of the 60s) you could very definitely tell a book by its cover. If the cover had a house with only a single lighted window, it was a gothic! My mom always had a paperback or two lying around the house. She often traded them with her friends.

As a bored young teen, I started picking them up and reading them and--WONDER OF WONDERS!--I liked them! (In fact I liked them so much, that I wound up naming my son after a character in Mary Stewart's The Moonspinners!)

I say 'wonder of wonders' because in those days I was an avid science fiction/fantasy reader and an all-out LOTR fanatic! I read everything from Piers Anthony to Roger Zelazny and anything in between. In fact it was a fantasy novel first published in the late 1970s that convinced me I should try my hand at writing my own novel. That book was The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks and it was a complete homage to Tolkien.


I LOVED IT! I also decided that if some lawyer from Chicago could do it, I could too (ah, the blissful ignorance of youth). So I made my very first attempt at writing a novel. I wrote the first draft in long hand and typed the revised copy on a portable manual typewriter.

Yes indeed, it was a terrible trial and so was the story! After a few rejections (can't believe I actually had the nerve to send it out) it went into a very large box under the bed and somehow through various moves and a divorce became lost forever. Thank goodness and may it Rest In Peace!

Meanwhile, my rocky road to romance continued. In the 80s I discovered and devoured most of the 'bodice rippers' of the day -- Rosemary Rogers, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Patricia Matthews (remember her?). But contemporary romances pretty much left me cold and fantasy continued to be my genre of choice...

Until one day in 1992 when I was browsing the SciFi/Fantasy section of my local bookstore and I pulled out a book that had somehow been misshelved. I mean, one look at the cover (front and back) and I knew that in spite of its very odd title, Outlander, that this was a romance. My BFF's birthday was fast approaching and I knew she liked to read romances so I bought the book to give to her. Of course, I just couldn't resist reading the first chapter...

...And the rest, as they say, IS HISTORY! I couldn't stop, and finished Outlander in a 3 day reading binge. By the time I gave it to my BFF wrapped in pretty flowered paper with a bright shiny bow (to distract from the slightly cracked spine), I'd already stopped at the library and checked out the sequel, Dragonfly In Amber. And when I finished it, I ran to the bookstore and bought every time-travel romance in sight. Finally, when I grew impatient waiting for Diana Gabaldon to finish the third Jamie and Claire book, Voyager, I decided to write my very own time-travel romance.

This second effort wasn't nearly as bad as my previous sword & sorcery attempt. In fact, an editor at Leisure books actually requested the full manuscript, but didn't buy it. But I also knew I had a lot to learn and started reading a lot of 'how-to' books and taking online classes. I also kept reading romance! By now, I'm happy to say I was firmly on that road.

Eventually, I joined RWA and attended some regional conferences. I also kept reading and writing, and decided to go back to my 'roots' and give romantic suspense a try. My first completed romantic suspense manuscript finaled in the 2006 Golden Heart (sound familiar?). And in 75 more days, that book will be released as The Treasures of Venice! Just goes to prove that happy endings happen in real life too!

Now you all know a little of my story of my road to romance, so it is your turn to share yours! Who helped set you on your own road to romance? What are some of the books you remember most along the way?

Please share and at the end of the day, Aunty will pick one commenter to receive either an autographed copy of The Wild Sight (which just WON Best First Book in the More Than Magic Contest!) , or an IOU for an autographed copy of The Treasures of Venice when it is released on September 1st.Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Writer%27s%20Life
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A Little of What You Fancy

by Anna Campbell

A Little of What You Fancy is the title of a rather saucy Edwardian song sung by a rather saucy Edwardian music hall star called Marie Lloyd who lived between 1870 and 1922.

She's a fascinating character - although you wouldn't think so if you'd watched the recent BBC movie about her life. I was looking forward to it because it featured the gorgeous Richard Armitage as her first husband. Sadly, even the gorgeous Richard couldn't save this mess! Although I think that's a really cute picture of him laughing his head off with the girl who played Marie.

Marie Lloyd rose from poverty in the slums of Hoxton in London to become one of the world's highest paid entertainers. She went through three husbands, including a last guy who was considerably younger than she was. She stood up against the entertainment moguls of the day to make sure less famous music hall performers received decent pay and conditions.

And she was very, VERY naughty!

She was always in trouble with the censors. One of my favorite stories about her is that when the authorities complained about a song called I Sits Among the Cabbages and Peas (yeah, good old British toilet humor!), Marie shrugged, told them any double entendre was all in their dirty minds, and changed the lyrics to "I sits among the cabbages and leeks." Cheeky, huh?

Another of her famous songs was Every Little Movement Has a Meaning of its Own. Again, the lyrics without her delivery could be seen as quite innocuous! But you can imagine what the delivery was like. Ooh la la!

And all this in the prim and proper late Victorian era! They weren't quite as buttoned down as we'd like to think, those Victorians. Ask Donna!

Sadly, Marie ended up falling victim to drink and her last days were rather pathetic with her playing to dwindling crowds and acclaim. But for many years, she was unrivaled as the queen of the music halls and she became that without being a great beauty or even a terrifically good singer. It was all chutzpah and guts and spirit and sauciness. My sorta gal!

She died in rather a sad way. She was performing in a shabby music hall and she was singing one of her songs that had been a hit for her since her childhood on the stage, I'm a Bit of a Ruin that Cromwell Knocked Around a Bit. When she started to stagger and eventually collapsed, the audience rocked with laughter because they thought it was part of the act. But Marie was desperately ill and died three days later. 100,000 people attended her funeral!

All of which is a rather long winded introduction to what I'm talking about today. A Little of What You Fancy Does You Good, as Marie would have said!

I'm talking about small day-to-day luxuries. The thing you regularly use as a pick-me-up. Something that offers a tiny highlight in a day that might be all hard slog otherwise.

I work very strange hours! I get up very, very early, usually around 4am and I work through until about 11 when generally my brain is tired and I'm utterly sick of my office.

Then I stop for a couple of hours. I cook lunch as my main meal of the day, I watch a bit of TV, I often have a bit of a nap. It's quite a European way to spend the midday hours, actually! Then I head back around 2 to start work again, feeling like a new woman.
And if I can't get a new woman, well, I suppose an old one will do. Ha ha. A joke good enough for a Maria Lloyd song? Nah, I didn't think so either!

But the moment of real luxury to me is that I have a glass or two of wine. Generally a nice Aussie red. Aaaaaah. Big sighs of satisfaction when I take that first sip after a hard morning at the computer face.

So do you have a small reward you give yourself most days? A piece of chocolate? Some other favorite food? A favorite TV show? A photo of a gorgeous guy you drool over (you can't have Richard, he's mine!)? A cuddle with your honey? Something, heaven forbid, physical like a swim or a walk or a bit of gardening. I'm not talking about the big luxuries here like a trip to Paris or a couture gown or spending up big at a bookstore - although reading a chapter of a romance or another good book would definitely count.

Come on, share! I want to see if there are other daily sybarites out there!Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Writer%27s%20Life
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In Praise of the Perfect Lipstick!

by Anna Campbell

I'm not much of a girl for wearing a lot of makeup although for glad rags events like the RWA awards night, I will slap on a bit of grease and paint.

But there's one item of makeup I'm absolutely addicted to...

Yeah, given the title of this blog, you don't exactly have to be Einstein to guess!

It's LIPSTICK!

I've always loved lipsticks ever since I was a little girl dressing up in my mother's old clothes. I love the names the cosmetic companies give lipsticks - they're worthy of the greatest of romantic novelists. Pink from Paris, one of my mum's from those early days. Doesn't that just whisper of French sophistication? Well, it did when I was eight! Sahara Rose - a favorite Revlon shade they don't make any more. Fire and Ice - a startling dark Hollywood starlet red that was my favorite color back when I worked in fashion in the mid-80s. Another Revlon shade now I think of it!

Other favorites include a wonderful REALLY vibrant red from Christian Dior that I inherited from a friend of mine. She'd never worn lipstick and decided to break the ice with something that would stop traffic. Needless to say, she NEVER got the guts to wear it. So her loss was my (very expensive lipstick) gain. It was called Geranium so you have some idea of the intensity of that color!

And of course, I am eternally devoted to my lucky lipstick. It's a very intense shade of maroon red, like a ripe cherry, and it was another expensive lipstick - after the Christian Dior, I really set my sights higher! It's from Lancome and it's called Ah, Les Femmes and the color is JUST right. If there are any other lipstick afficionados out there, you'll know how precious that JUST right color is.

No less an authority than the immaculately presented Lisa Kleypas commented on it, saying that although it was out of fashion, it was a great color for someone of my complexion. Yes, I know I'm name dropping! We lipstick tarts have no shame!

My great fondness for lipsticks was cemented about 20 years ago when I was in a bit of a slump (the way Everest is a bit of a hill!). I was working part-time in a really demanding but unfulfilling job which I'd taken so I had time to write. And my writing wasn't getting anywhere. I had no money and was definitely digging myself into a hole.

Then one day, I bought myself a new lipstick - the aforementioned Sahara Rose. I do so wish Revlon still made that shade, it was a really pretty subtle brownish pink that you could wear almost anywhere.

And it gave me such a boost. It was an inexpensive way to pick up my mood immediately and I got a blast of cheeriness every time I wore my new lipstick. The effects of my purchase of course eventually wore off so I had to buy another new lipstick. So easy for addictions to come into being! At least this particular addiction isn't fattening, though! Or bad for my liver. Although I suspect I've eaten an elephant's weight of lipstick in my life, so perhaps I shouldn't speak too fast about that conclusion!

The boost I get from a new lipstick has never faded.

Currently my favorite is an Estee Lauder called Black Cherry. It may even end up replacing Ah, Les Femmes in my affections, I'm so crazy about it. I love its elegant shiny gold container. I love the immediate intense color. It's a GREAT lipstick!

So are you a fellow lipstick tart? Do you have something else that you know will immediately pick up your mood and give you a smile? Chocolate definitely comes to mind or a really good book or reading something I love that I've read before. A swim also works for me. Or a really great piece of music.

Come on! Share your little pick-me-ups! Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Writer%27s%20Life
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