Spread the Love

The Romance Writers of Australia is launching a book appeal as they know many affected families who have lost everything in the devestating bush fires that swept southern Australia last week. Books will not be high on their list of necessities for some time to come. But these amazing Australian writers also know how valuable books can be in providing time out when reality gets tough.

So with the aid of some wonderful volunteers, they've put together a Romance Writers of Australia Bushfire Book Appeal and are looking for FICTION BOOKS. Romance books, children's books, genre books, literary fiction, whatever — either new or in sparkling condition. Feel free to pop a note inside, or if you're the author, sign the book.

If any of you have books you'd be willing to donate — it's expensive mailing them overseas, though, but they'd be so grateful to have them — please send them to:

RWA Bushfire Book Appeal
c/- 89 Rennie St
Thornbury Vic 3071
Australia

"The books will be boxed and delivered to the appropriate neighbourhood centres, community centres, and libraries in batches as soon as practicable. With thanks from Anne Gracie, Romance Writers of Australia Inc., and all our Australian friends."

130, 101, 70: History of Mills & Boon and Jean S. MacLeod

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, it's the perfect ocassion to celebrate one of the grandes dames of the romance genre.

On January 14, author Jean S. MacLeod turned 101. She celebrated her 70 years of writing for Mills & Boon by starting her 130th book for them. No putting her feet up on the cassock with a hot cuppa for her.

MacLeod's first published romantic fiction was in 1938, entitled Life For Two. "I sent off a few ideas to Mills & Boon, and they liked them and that has pretty much kept me busy for the past 70 years," she said.

Research was vital to her, and she traveled all over the world to ensure that the settings for her stories were accurate.

MacLeod's thoughts on writing romances: "I never could understand why it should be thought a disgrace to write five books a year and sell them." Encouraged by Charles Boon, publisher, MacLeod made personal appearances and gave speeches to women's institutes and groups around the country. She courted her fans. M&B and its authors have single-handedly made the author book signings events where readers gets to meet the authors and vice versa. MacLeod noted that women from all classes and background wrote to her on how much they enjoyed her books.

A co-founder of UK's Romantic Novelists' Association, MacLeod made £1000 per anum in her first decade, which was a fairly solid writerly income in those times. However, she says, "Money was not a motivation for writing — we were only paid on a royalty basis. Even now, I still pick up around £68 a year in royalties, but the joy of knowing people were, and still are, enjoying my books is payment enough." For a 100-year-old publisher that sells one book every three seconds somewhere in the world, All About Romance asks, "Is somebody taking advantage of an old lady?"

Despite the content of the Mills & Boon books becoming racier over the years, MacLeod says, "I never use the word 'sex' in my novels — that is not what romance is about. It's about love and emotion."

The NOW Habit

The Now Habit is a productivity book by Dr. Neil Fiore about "a strategic program for overcoming procrastination and enjoying guilt-free play."

It's not really so much a time and task management program, like Getting Things Done, as it is a philosophy about choosing priorities, leaving shame and blame behind, and successfully executing from a leadership perspective on life. It legitimizes guilt-free play while it improves the quality and efficiency of your work. Sounds illogical and contradictory, doesn't it?

Fiore defines procrastination like this: Procrastination is a habit you develop to cope with anxiety about starting or completing a task or a decision. It is your attempted solution to cope with tasks that are boring or overwhelming. When you use The Now Habit strategies to lower your anxiety, fears, and self-doubts, you can stop using procrastination as an escape and can double your productivity. When you learn to work efficiently—in the Flow State or Zone, using more of your brain-cell power—you have less reason to avoid important, top-priority tasks.

Procrastinators are not lazy people. In fact, many procrastinators are workaholics. People often tender pithy advice, such as "break it into small pieces," "set priorities," "just do it," or "work harder." You already know this. You would do these things if you could, if it were that simply. People don't procrastinate just to be ornery. According to Fiore, they procrastinate because it makes sense, given how vulnerable they feel to criticism, judgment, failure, their own perfectionism, and negative concepts of work and yourself. Thus, procrastination is not the root of the problem.

However, procrastination becomes a habit through its rewarding system:
1. an indirect way of resisting pressure from authorities since you cannot openly rebel
2. a way of lessening fear of fairlure by provinding an excuse for a disappointing, less-than-perfect performance
3. a defense against fear of succes by keeping us from doing our best

Since procrastination can be learned, it can be unlearned also. The Now Habit works on negating the effects of the Puritan Work Ethic "you production determines your worth" and Freudian Views "your lower self must besubdued and disciplined by society. Instead, the book helps you reestablish a working relationship withink yourself that lessens inner conflict and allows you to engage your whole self in your task.

The ten tools of The Now Habit are:
1. Creating psychological safety to lessen fear of failure
2. Reprogramming negative attitudes through positive self-talk
3. Using the symptom to trigger the cure
4. Scheduled guilt-free play to reduce resentment toward work
5. Three-dimensional thinking and the reverse calendar
6. Making worry work for you and coping with distractions
7. The Unschedule (love this word!)
8. Setting realistic, not guilt-producing, goals
9. Working in the flow state
10. Controlled setbacks to practice recovering from failure

As I learn more about The Now Habit, I'll put up periodic posts to cover the entire book.

Romanistas, any thoughts on what I've summarized so far?

RWA 2009 Update

Janet Evanovich is going to be the Opening Session Speaker!

"Join us at the Opening Session on Thursday, July 16, with Janet Evanovich, past president of Mystery Writers of America and New York Times best-selling author of the zany Stephanie Plum series. Originally a writer of romance, and hugely supportive of RWA, Janet has funny, serious and deeply inspiring tales to tell."

Guest Blogger: SB Sarah Wendell

Romanistas, I have the unprecedented honor of hosting blogger extraordinaire Sarah Wendell of the Smart Bitches as my guest. Here we go...

One of the things we talk about in The Smart Bitch Book (aka Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels) is that romance readers often shop by plot or plot trope, and for that reason we take a lot of crap from people who think we shop for our pornographic stimulation in specific, sugary-ruffled wrappers, and that romance is all the same (and whatever other stupid assumption about romance you can come up with).

Aside from all the pretentious prejudice, I definitely am attracted to specific plots. These are my top two:

1. The Smoldering Silent Hero. He has it BAD, and it shows in tiny, blink-and-you-miss-it ways. And if it's done right, it requires a re-read. And another. And omg, the smoldering.

2. "I don't want to like you, and I can't stop thinking about your hair." I talk about this one a lot — the hero or heroine who can't help being attracted to someone who drives them up a damn wall. If the bickering is funny and tight, the reading is right.

So — what's your favorite plot to revisit?

25 Writers Who Have Influenced My Thinking

Looks like Sunday is meme day in Seattle-town this week. Thanks to Tasha Alexander, I have one more meme to waste my day on. Hooray!

Here are 25 fiction writers who have influenced my perspective on life. I'm deliberately staying away from poetry and nonfiction here.

In no particular order (and given my software engineering roots, my lists always start with '0')...

0. Dr. Seuss
1. Enid Blyton
2. Jane Austen
3. G.B. Shaw
4. Harper Lee
5. John Steinbeck
6. Pico Iyer
7. Kazuo Ishiguro
8. Alexandre Dumas
9. Jules Verne
10. The Brontes
11. P.D. James
12. Louisa May Alcott
13. Elizabeth George
14. Shakespeare
15. Lucy Maud Montgomery
16. Connie Brockway
17. Jo Beverley
18. Julia Quinn
19. Julie Garwood
20. Jean Auel
21. Umberto Eco
22. Georgette Heyer
23. Bernard Cornwell
24. Laura Ingalls Wilder
25. Charles Dickens