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I’d been wondering when the current economic climate might begin to affect the Greek and Italian tycoons who inhabit romances, and recently I came across this in Sara Craven’s Wife in the Shadows (Mills & Boon, June 2011):

any kind of open scandal should be avoided, particularly at this moment. The quality of the Galantana brand of clothing had saved the company from the worst effects of the global recession – indeed, they were planning expansion – but for that they needed extra finance for more new machinery at the Milan factory, as well as buying another site for workshops near Verona.
Which was principally why he had accepted Silvia’s dinner invitation, because he’d learned that Prince Cesare Damiano, head of the Credito Europa bank would be present [...].
He and Prince Damiano had spoken briefly but constructively, and negotiations were now proceeding. And while the banker was a charming, cultivated man with a passion for rose-growing, he was also known to be a stickler for old-fashioned morality.
Any overt lapse on Angelo’s part could well blow the deal out of the water. (14-15)

The situation described in the first paragraph fits rather well with the reality described in an article on the BBC website, from 1 November 2011:

There are no price tags on the clothes in Brunello Cucinelli’s showroom in Milan.

The people who shop in the designer’s store do not need to worry about how much they are spending.
And Mr Cucinelli doesn’t feel he needs to worry about talk of a double-dip recession in Europe.
“This is the century of China,” he says.
“This will mean billions of human beings coming towards us and asking to live in a different way. These people are fascinated by our quality, by our culture, by our craftsmanship.”
Too true, says Italy’s luxury goods trade group Altagamma.
It sees sales in European markets growing by 3.75% next year.

Jeannie Watt has taken a look at the changing trends in Supperromance covers, from 1980 to the present.

I’ve been guest-blogging at She-Wolf’s (about medievalism and how it’s shaped my approach to reading Harlequin Mills & Boon romances), at Read React Review (about “high” art and the way it’s been defined in opposition to works which are commercially successful) and I’ve also received some nice comments about For Love and Money from Kate Walker.

I’ve also been updating Teach Me Tonight’s look, in response to C. M. Kempe’s plea that I “consider adding share buttons to the end of every post to make the redistribution easier.” There are now share buttons at the end of each post and there are also some on the sidebar. This did involve redesigning the blog a little: we’re still pink, but the look of the new template’s a bit simpler.

The Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand (PopCAANZ) 2012 conference will be held at the Langham Hotel in Melbourne on the 27th, 28th and 29th of June. More details can be found here.

[Edited to add: Remittance Girl, an author of erotica (not romance) challenges fellow authors to write sex scenes which will evoke readers' lived experiences:

I don't want to connect with my readers over a landscape of commercialized sex. When they read a piece of my erotic work, I attempt, as far as possible, to ensure that what they're imagining calls to their real memories and lived abstractions, not a porn flick. Because I feel that the story will resonate at a deeper level if my words are associated with their real, felt, lived erotic experiences.

This is definitely an issue of relevance to romance as well as to erotica. For instance, Smart Bitch Sarah recently posted about the hymen because "I thought we'd gone over this in the past few years enough times that folks knew this information already. But it seems like we need a review because authors still don't seem to know where the hell the hymen is." As Dani A. points out in the comments, "Bad anatomy in romance isn't just aggravating, it's probably causing real harm and anxiety to people who don't know better and think that the books are right and somehow it's their bodies that are wrong."]

Teach Me Tonight

Heroes are not infrequently to be found on horseback and horses have often featured on the covers of romances; I’ve posted a short piece about heroes, heroines and horses at my website. I should probably warn you that I chose the covers above purely because they include horses, not because they’re attached to any of the texts I quote from in my mini-essay.

On the topic of covers and heroes, I thought I’d return very briefly to the issue of race and cover art by posting the cover of Cindy Dee’s Soldier’s Rescue Mission.

And re heroines in historicals, Isobel Carr has been doing a little bit of research into the ages at marriage of Georgian and Regency aristocrats:

How old were most daughters of the peerage (the most common heroines in our books) when they married for the first time? Stone’s chart shows that during the first part of the era, the median age was ~20-22. Post 1750 (correlating with the passage of Hardwicke’s Marriage Act; Coincidence?), that age jumps up to ~23-24. So, the most common age for the daughter of a peer to marry was not when she was in her teens, but when she was in her early 20s, and an unmarried twenty-five year old would not really be much of an outlier.

She also discusses accurate ages for heroes at marriage elsewhere in her post.

Teach Me Tonight

Rocket Spanish Review: In the event you learn that you are going to be traveling other nations, it makes everything simpler to know how to communicate with the people. This learning software prepares you to speak a new language fluently. This is a course of study that can quickly prepare you to meet this challenge.

This is an interactive course. The lessons in the course are created to let you interact directly with the program as you learn. You will be able to have conversations that actually make sense. The lessons will cover many different subjects that can all be researched through best review site. The subjects are relevant so they will be situations that you would really use. The training course also teaches how to read and properly write in the new language.

The key to this curriculum will be the 32 training files included inside the plan. It is very helpful to be able to listen to men and women conversing in the language appropriately. It will allow you to become more comfortable speaking in conversations. The training course employs easy to listen to audio files that you can use at any time. It will allow you to practice the words whenever you desire. The program makes it quite trouble-free to quickly master a brand new terminology.

The audio part of the course provides a technique that presents a day-to-day program to encourage regular practice sessions. The easiest way to effective learn a new language is to participate in discussions and listen to discussions as frequently as you can. The course work provides you several different ways to learn the language in a fun matter.

You will also have the ability to keep track of your improvement as you move through the training. The course is of a high quality. It also incorporates learning games and other features that will help you to see how you are doing. This is a great feature of the program. There are even ways you can test yourself to see how you are doing with the course. You are going to discover vocabulary, grammar, and other more advance features while learning the language. There are also programs that teach you how to speak in social settings.

One of the best features in the program is the speed in which it teaches a new language. The program gives many hours of training regarding conversational training. It is important to listen to the language being spoken in the correct manner in order to learn how to be fluent. You will also get to listen to other people speak the language fluently.

Yet another superb function of this program is the provision of entertaining video games that are included inside the software package. This makes learning much more enjoyable. This can also help you to understand the language faster. The games protect scores so you can track how you are performing. The master plan also consists of sentence structure and pronunciations games.

Rocket Spanish Reviews: The course advances from a novice level all the way to advanced. The games can be played at diverse times during the course of the day. There are numerous distinct approaches to learn the language with this plan. It is a complete program that offers excellent outcomes. More information regarding this program can be found through the review site.

Two more reviews actually, of two very different books, one by esteemed British literary writer Edna O’Brien, the other by Christian author Joel C. Rosenberg, whose books and violent viewpoint don’t strike this commentator as very Christian. But what do I know?

Read the book reviews at
http://blitzreview.blogspot.com

See how they rate.

AttackingtheDemi-Puppets

Someone who is facing his or her addiction will certainly have to confront a number of challenges. Recovery is often an ongoing struggle, filled with ups and downs. In addition, those who are chemically dependent often have to deal with other conditions that exacerbate the problem. More and more, dual diagnosis drug rehab provides the best solutions for addicts who are facing multiple issues.

Two Problems

One might be interested in learning about what programs of this nature entail. The psychiatric community is in general agreement with respect to the fact that addictive behavior is often accompanied by other conditions. The condition may predate the addiction or the addiction may have led to the condition but it is thought that both need to be addressed in order to have successful recovery.

Part of The Problem

Regardless of which came first, the clinical disorder or the substance abuse, more and more expert clinicians are finding it important and necessary to treat both simultaneously. The psychiatric community has increasingly found that effectively treating disorders that accompany addiction often results in a more lasting recovery. This treatment is done in a number of different ways and may vary somewhat from clinic to clinic.

Group Theraby

Group therapy plays a big role in this type of rehabilitation. With just about any person who is dealing with chemical dependency, a feeling of isolation often exists. The group atmosphere underscores the fact that the addict is not struggling alone. The support that one gets from the larger community plays a key role on the road to recovery. Many supporting clinicians, speakers and educators are themselves recovering addicts.

Counseling

Individual therapy or counseling is another important element of the process. This may allow the addict to focus more deeply on many of the underlying issues. During individual sessions, the addict will be taught different coping skills to put into effect when one is overcome with the urge to consume drugs or alcohol.

Prescription Medication

Prescription medication is often needed as well. This can provide a great deal of immediate help when a diagnosis of anxiety or depression is made. The use of prescription medication may be temporary or long term, depending on the severity of the condition. Ideally, the medication is used while the recovering addict is learning coping skills to deal with his or her condition.

Individual Assessment

All the aforementioned elements are incorporated into one comprehensive residential alcohol addiction rehabilitation. The manner in which each element is put into place may be slightly different depending on the clinic or venue. It is important to note that the initial patient evaluation will often be used by the recovery team to make adjustments during the course of the program as well.

EPIC FAIL Funny Videos and Epic Fail Funny Pictures

For my next trick, I’m going to give everyone a bunch of totally contradictory advice.

My novel Latent, which eventually became Control Point was ready for prime time (i.e. good enough to win the support of the biggest agent in the business) about 6 months before I sent it to my agent. I lost those months to a miasma of self-pity, low self-confidence and ennui.

In the end, the only reason I got up the gumption to send him the manuscript was that I was heading off to Iraq and I didn’t want to get zapped and never have him see the thing.

I’ve told this story before, but I told my agent not to tell me what he thought of it, figuring that his response (positive or negative) would distract me from what I need to be doing (like fighting a WAR).

Of course, he gets the manuscript, loves it, and spends the next four months sitting on his hands waiting for me to come home.

Add that to the six months where I was too scared to send it to him and I delayed my initial publishing deal by almost a year.

Here’s the point: You have to have guts.

You have to believe in what you’re doing. You have to press forward firmly and boldly. Once you’ve written a good book, that you *know* is the best thing you can produce, you have to bite the bullet and take it out to market. You can’t sit and stew in your own bulls$#t.

BUT.

I also sent my agent three novels before that. None of them was ready for primetime. None of them was nearly good enough. In retrospect, I knew it. A part of me knew my craft wasn’t where I needed to be. My bones were telling me that I had a few miles to go yet. But I was too excited at the prospect of having a heavy-hitter interested in my work. I was too worked up over the possibility of being a PROFESSIONAL WRITER.

Art for Myke Cole's "Naktong Flow" (BG 13) by Malcolm McClinton

So I pulled the trigger.  Three times. I sent an incredibly busy man, a kingmaker in the industry, a guy who barely has time to breathe, THREE bad books.

You know what saved me? My agent and I are dear friends. In between manuscript rejections, we’d been meeting for dinner, going to the theatre, playing Scrabble. If it hand’t been for that, I’m not sure that he’d have been willing to keep reading my work after I’d given him THREE bad novels.

When I think of how close I came to burning that contact, to losing that in, I practically have a panic attack.

Here’s my point. You can’t be Emily Dickenson. If your GOOD novel just sits on your hard drive, gathering dust, if you lack the faith to go out into the marketplace and pump your stellar work, then you’re not going to get a book deal (or be a self-publishing success).

But even more importantly: In writing, your name and reputation is all you have.

Many great writers talk about the intense and increasing pressure of a novelist’s career. The demands level-up on a rising current requiring each novel to be better than the last. Go ahead and phone one book in. One is all it takes. Once readers associate your name with drek? They’re not going to read you anymore. Agents and editors are no different.

You are your brand. You’ve got to make sure that whatever gets under the nose of anyone other than your most sympathetic beta-readers is absolute gold. Anything else risks your reputation and the possibility that your audience will write you off saying “I’ve read him/her. Didn’t work for me.”

What’s a novelist’s most critical skill? Finding that balance. Knowing when good enough is really good enough, when it’s time to stop massaging and start trumpeting. I’ve been at this seriously for 15 years and I still haven’t mastered it.

But I make it a priority, and if professional writing is what you aspire to, you might want to consider doing the same.

Black Gate

1. The first chapter in Laura Vivanco’s For Love and Money sets out the five “modes” of literature identified by Northrop Frye and shows how attending to the “modal counterpoint” in a romance novel can make sense of its shifting tones, metaphors, and rhetoric. These modes (and modal counterpoint) can be understood from a purely aesthetic standpoint, in terms of the structure and individual character of any given novel, but they may also be looked at from other perspectives: for example, Vivanco argues that the use of hyperbolic metaphors and allusions to “romantic” and high mimetic mythoi might aim to capture something of the experience of “romantic illusion,” which demonstrably forms a part of falling in love, at least for some (see pp. 65-69).

Write an essay on the use of modal counterpoint in The Duke is Mine, using ideas from Vivanco, from class discussion, and from your own insight to understand how James deploys a variety of modes in the novel, playing them off against one another. Your essay can be comprehensive, drawing on scenes and passages from various parts of the novel to illustrate James’s use of various modes, or it can focus on the counterpoint between various modes in a single scene, attending closing to a single chapter or passage. In either case, please keep in mind the guiding principle of our class: you want to make the novel seem as interesting as possible, whether by showing that it is more complexly coherent and artfully constructed than it might seem at first glance or by showing that it is more interestingly self-divided, conflicted, and ambivalent.

Teach Me Tonight

Asking what is a sober living halfway house service opens a dialog about societal needs when it comes to rehabilitating people. The basic premise for these services is to help those who have been in a situation where they need to learn skills in order to reenter society with the ability to survive. Churches and secular organizations often manage these services based on the needs in a particular community. In most cases, they serve a narrow range of clientele with specific needs.

An Adjustment

They are mostly available to people leaving prison or dealing with addictions. There are many who also serve those that need counseling regarding mental issues. In all cases, they have staff members who are trained to work with the particular issues of the clients. These services help the clients take smaller steps towards reentry. This also gives them a support system rather than thrusting them into a difficult situation.

Government Facilities

There are not many government run homes. In most cases, the government is likely to provide grants and other funding to support other organizations in their efforts. There are a few that may be setup to assist with prisoner rehabilitation. In these cases, the person preparing to get out of jail is giving a chance to live in the community, obtain a job and begin saving for life’s expenses.

Religious Facilities

Many religious groups offer halfway homes. The style is very similar to secular services. However, these often require church attendance or participation in programs that emphasize religious experiences. This is great for people that are in need of life skills as well as spiritual healing.

Non-Religious Facilities

The secular organizations focus on services. Many will have a partnership with various churches to offer the spiritual experience many people seek. In these service providers, the focus is typically on learning how to overcome addiction, budget for groceries and rent and learn job skills in order to survive.

Services Offered

The different services offered are valuable for anyone to experience. Though they are reserved for those in specific situations, the services that are very valuable for learning how to maintain one’s own life. Learning a trade, obtaining GED certification, and other skills training is offered by the majority of the service providers.

Finding The Right Facility

Locating the alochol addiction rehab service providers is very simple. Most of them are listed in online directories, with government agencies, city directories and in phone books. The services offered vary, but are usually listed with their address. If you are not sure which one is right for you or a loved one, you can usually call to ask questions and even arrange a tour. The intake process helps determine if the person is qualified for the services. Financing is available through grants, insurance and direct payment.

Romantic Circles is very pleased to announce a new volume in the Romantic Circles Praxis series, Robert Bloomfield: The Inestimable Blessing of Letters, edited by John Goodridge and Bridget Keegan.

Robert Bloomfield’s letters document one artist’s struggles (and sometimes his victories) to share his unique voice and vision; the online publication of his extant letters (a companion to this collection of essays) reveals new and exciting insights into Bloomfield the artist and the man.The essays included in this Praxis volume highlight and draw attention to aspects of Bloomfield’s literary production that would likely not be possible without the full access to his letters that the edition provides, and make a strong case for why Bloomfield continues to be worthy of study.They suggest how much more remains to be said about this prolific poet.

This volume makes use of the previously published edition at Romantic Circles, The Letters of Robert Bloomfield and His Circle, edited by Tim Fulford and Lynda Pratt. This edition of Bloomfield”s Collected Letters constitutes every known letter by Bloomfield himself, plus a selection of the letters sent to him by literary correspondents and those exchanged between members of his circle.

Romantic Circles Blog