Friday Film: Roman Holiday

As promised after reviewing the 1940 film of Pride and Prejudice with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, I will be posting some more of my impressions of the old black and whites in a new blog feature, Friday Film.

First up, Roman Holiday (1953) starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn in her first major role.

Fairytale in the Eternal City

Princess Ann (Hepburn) is a Royal princess (country of origin undisclosed) traveling through Europe on a whirlwind “goodwill” tour. Newsreels show her waving at crowds in London and Paris with much fanfare and pomp. She gets to Rome and upon her lady-in-waiting’s recitation of a complicated schedule for the following day (COUNTESS: 10:45 Tour of Automobile Factory where you will be presented with a small car. PRINCESS: Thank you. COUNTESS (frowning): Which you will NOT accept. PRINCESS: NO, thank you.), Princess Ann has a tantrum/break down. Her handlers respond to her exhaustion by calling a kindly doctor who injects her with “a new drug,” which will help her sleep and make her happy. (NOTE: This drug-the-silly-hysterical-woman device, while apparently normal behavior for the time, has always disturbed me. Alfred Hitchcock directed a similar scene to chilling effect in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) with Doris Day and James Stewart after Doris Day’s character becomes hysterical when she realizes her son has been kidnapped! They actually hold her down to stick her in the arm in that one!) In Princess Ann’s case, the drug is slow to take effect, and she decides to escape her handlers by sneaking out of the palace/embassy where she is staying. Unfortunately, the drug overtakes her when she is out in the city.

Gregory Peck as American journalist Joe Bradley comes upon the drugged Princess in the Foro Romano. Not knowing who she is, he thinks she has had too much to drink and alternates between treating her like she is a hustler and thinking she is an innocent who needs taking care of. Eventually his chivalrous instincts win out and he takes her back to his tiny apartment in Via Margutta to sleep it off.

When he wakes the next morning, the princess is still sleeping and Joe still doesn’t know who she is. He quickly figures it out, however, when he pays a visit to his editor who informs him that the princess has been taken ill and has cancelled her press conference. Reporter Joe senses a scoop and a scandal in the making that could be very lucrative for him. His motivation: to score enough money from this story to get back to New York to work at a “real newspaper.” With the help of a photographer friend, played by the brilliant and funny Eddie Albert, he proceeds to show “Anya” a great time on the town while managing to take pictures of her with a little cigarette lighter camera. Rome gets showcased in all its dusty glory. Anya rides around the Piazza Venezia on a scooter, visits the wall of wishes (which no longer exists, more’s the pity) and the Bocca della Verita (the Mouth of Truth), and ends up in a night club brawl on a barge on the Tiber under the shadow of the Castel Sant’Angelo.

No spoilers here! But suffice to say for me the story ends in an emotionally satisfying but believable way. There is certainly NO lack of chemistry between Gregory Peck and the luminous Audrey Hepburn. And you get the impression that Eddie Albert is a little in love with her too, which makes the Princess’s day out with these two “hardened” journalists charming and poignant.

Rome is a character all to itself in the movie, and as a former resident, I loved seeing the Eternal City on a bright sunny day into a sparkling night as I scrambled to identify the streets and places showcased in the Rome tour montage.

Definitely one to put on your must watch list!

Roman Holiday Tidbits

* Screenwriter Dalton Trombo did not receive a credit on the film because he had been blacklisted in the film industry for suspected communist sympathies. He was one of the “Hollywood Ten” who refused to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and were subsequently prosecuted for contempt. The blacklist/boycott included Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, and to some extent even Humphrey Bogart.

From the detailed Wikipedia article: “The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-20th-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or associations, real or suspected.”

Don’t present me with the choice of either being in contempt of this committee and going to jail or forcing me to really crawl through the mud to be an informer. For what purpose? I don’t think it is a choice at all. I don’t think this is really sportsmanlike. I don’t think this is American. I don’t think this is American justice. ~Actor Larry Parks in 1950 to the House Un-American Activities Committee

* The screenplay for Roman Holiday was originally written with Cary Grant and Elizabeth Taylor in mind, but when they were unavailable, director William Wyler selected the unknown youngster Audrey Hepburn with a clever screen test that kept the camera rolling even after the “formal” audition was complete. William Wyler also directed Mrs. Miniver, for which role Greer Garson took home the Academy Award in 1940.

* Audrey Hepburn was “discovered” by Colette (French writer and author of Gigi) and plucked out of obscurity to play the title role in the stage play of Gigi.

* After filming in Rome, Gregory Peck insisted that Audrey Hepburn’s name be moved to top billing alongside his on the movie posters, predicting she would win the Academy Award. Which she did. She also took home the Film Critics Circle Award, the Golden Globe, and the BAFTA (British Actors’ Award) for her portrayal of Ann/Anya in Roman Holiday. The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and took home 3, including Best Costuming and Best Screenplay (ironic right?).

Roger Zelazny and Me: Talking the Literary Canon at Backspace

I attended the Backspace Writer’s Conference last weekend (it was my birthday present, actually). Wow, what a ride. Three days of workshops packed with info on what literary agents really want (no, really); how a book idea becomes a movie (it’s not how you might think); inspiring words from YA author A.S. King (One truly cool chick, go check her out. Like, right now. I’ll wait.); and choreographing fight scenes with thriller author Jonathan Maberry (holy crap, I didn’t know you could break someone’s elbow with two fingers!). All culminating in the equivalent of Writers’ Church with superagent Donald Maass talking about his writing how-to: 21st Century Fiction (props to Vanessa Lillie for coining the term 🙂 ). Lots of take aways, lots of work up ahead for me, but the best part was that I got to indulge one of my all-time passions: talking about books and favorite authors with people who love books and authors.

In an evening conversation with Ted Boone, aspiring Science Fiction writer, I related an event that sticks out in my mind as formative regarding my notions of novelists and what they do. I don’t read SF these days (and I definitely don’t write it–never say never) but I have read it in the past and here’s why: When I was a young kid looking to sell Girl Scout cookies, my mom took me up to Stagecoach Drive in Santa Fe, which was potentially a brilliant sales strategy because Stagecoach Drive is Santa Fe’s equivalent of Newport, RI’s Bellevue Avenue. I don’t remember if I sold a lot of cookies–I think we were a bit stymied by the gated driveways–but the key to our trip was Mom’s acquaintance with Judy Zelazny, Roger Zelazny’s then wife. Roger Zelazny, for those of you who don’t know, was the prolific and award-winning author of classic Science Fiction and Fantasy novels. His oeuvre spanned the “Golden Years” of SF/F from about 1962 into the 1990s. He died in 1995. He was particularly known for his Amber series and for elevating pure genre fiction to something more literary. George R.R. Martin (of Game of Thrones fame and another Santa Fe resident) counts Zelazny as an inspiration for his own work.

At any rate, Mrs. Zelazny selected a flattering number of my boxes of cookies, and while I was counting out change, she asked if I might like to see where her husband worked. I had no notion at the time that I was entering the workspace of a renowned novelist. I did know Roger Zelazny wrote books because his name was on the paperbacks my brother read non-stop in those days. As I remember the moment (which may bear only a little resemblance to ground truth) we walked down a few sets of stairs, like we were going underground. We got to a set of huge doors, where Mrs. Zelazny knocked. Upon receiving the call to enter, the doors parted like the gates of Mordor, and we entered a place of literary dreams. The Author, ensconced in the middle of floor to ceiling shelves holding books and Hugo awards, turned from his typewriter to greet us politely and a bit distractedly. I think he may have even signed a book or two for my brother. This is a sacred image for me, and no matter how many books I sell in the future (I hoping it will be many!), I don’t think I will count myself a success until I have an equivalent book-lined room of my own.

So thanks to Ted for reminding me of that formative experience. And thanks to Roger Zelazny for opening those doors so I could glimpse the writer at work and dream.

So what are your formative experiences about people in their workplaces? Did you visit a fire station as a kid? See the Marines at 8th and I? Anyone a Roger Zelazny fan?

It’s (finally!) Spring: 3 Ways to Start Over

I love my yard in springtime. The leaves, the grass, the shrubs all bear that bright green that says they’re starting over. (Though I wish my dog wouldn’t pee on the azaleas and I am jealous of my neighbor winning “Yard of the Month!” She totally deserves it, though. Go, Pam!)

Life can really be nothing BUT starting over. From the very beginning we master crawling but then we have to learn to walk, then to run, then to dance. When you go to school you finish elementary school only to start over in middle school, then you finish high school, just to begin again in college. By the time we’re on our 4th or 5th job, you would think we would be really good at this starting over thing. But that isn’t necessarily true…

I have spent this winter and early spring working on my next book and to be frank, the work has humbled me. I finished the early draft in November with such high hopes, and then I had to start over with the rewrite. I am now on my 5th or 6th version. Such is the writer’s life, I am finding out.

“Press on: nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” ~Calvin Coolidge

So for all of us who have yet to master the starting over gig, here are 3 ways to go about it:

1. Try something you haven’t before

Alex Lickerman on Psychology Today blog

“I really am content enjoying all the things I already enjoy. But straying into foreign lands, both metaphorically and literally, has always forced me to challenge my beliefs. And as painful as that is, nothing, I believe, contributes to our happiness more than shattering the delusions to which we cling, unable as we often are to distinguish between beliefs that are true and beliefs that are false (especially beliefs about ourselves).”

2. Set some goals

From Zen Habits–Really Simple Goal Setting

“The key to simple goal setting is to not have too many goals.”  🙂

3. Keep at it

Claire Gregory on All the World’s Our Page

“Push down the fear, trust all that ingrained knowledge, and keep on practicing. Forget about the destination and keep your focus only as far ahead as your headlights let you see. Sure, you might bump a couple of kerbs or ding your door on a pole now and again- but then it’s easy to forget that we all do that occasionally.”

Is spring a time to start over for you? How do you start over whether it’s new or not?

Link Love: The Best of St. Pat’s 2013

I do like a good toast, so on this national day of toasting to the Irish in us all I offer a trip around the blogosphere for some of the best of St. Patrick’s Day.

For Fun

The fun and fabulous Susie Lindau dances an Irish Jig and offers up some toasts for us to try.

Celebrating the Emerald Isle from space! Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield honors St. Patrick from the international space station by singing Danny Boy (not bad!) and wearin’ the green.

If you have green eyes (and I DO), you may be Irish, or female, or both. Laura Dimon offers up the statistics on what makes green eyes so unusual. Plus, the most famous green-eyed lass in literature. Any guesses?

For Food

The how-to video in Irish Soda Bread, the American Way is a mini-visual spectacle. If you replay that bit where she slathers the Irish butter and it melts a little, you can actually smell the warm bread spiced with caraway seeds and currants. I want to invite Melissa Clark to my house to make these buns for me. Like, right now. Yum.

The full St. Patrick’s Day traditional meal explained by Rachel Allen on the WSJ Speakeasy blog. In the category of “I’ll bet you didn’t know that”: her explanation of how Irish coffee was invented.

For the foodies out there an Irish food paradise on Wise Words, the oeuvre of Irish food blogger Mona Wise and her chef husband (winner of Blog Awards Ireland‘s Best Blog for 2012).

For Travel

Our Amazing Planet’s post A Photo Tour of Ireland not only captures images of the Emerald Isle and its people, it presents the history and traditions of the Irish in the photo captions.

My own discovery of Blarney Castle from 2012’s St. Paddy’s Day post, including some blarney from Winston Churchill and my mom.

Lastly, a celebration of St. Patrick’s Day would not be complete for me without my favorite Irish pub song, “The Wild Rover,” sung here by The Dubliners:

Slainte! Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, Everyone! Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig!

The 1940 Pride and Prejudice Film: Where’s the Chemistry?

This post is the first in a series of reviews to complete the “Aficionada” level of Laurel Ann Nattress’s P&P Bicentenary Challenge celebrating 200 years of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, 1813-2013.

For my first review, I re-watched the 1940 film version of Pride and Prejudice starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier. I had previously enjoyed this black and white adaptation, but when I brought a more critical eye to the screening, I had to re-evaluate some of my old impressions, which I will discuss below. First, though, a story:

Greer Garson and Me

As you know if you know me, or have explored my “About” page, I grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Santa Fe is the place Greer Garson lived later in her life after marrying Texas oil man E.E. “Buddy” Fogleson and retiring to their “Forked Lightning” ranch in New Mexico. Santa Fe benefited greatly from her patronage when she endowed the (then) College of Santa Fe (now Santa Fe University of Art and Design) in order to build the Greer Garson Theater. This was a place where I spent a considerable amount of time one season because my brother had gotten a small role in the musical Carousel.

The way I remember it, at the entrance to the orchestra seating for the theater (or maybe in the lobby area) there were two larger-than-life portraits of Miss Garson flanking the doors. I remember in the one on the right she was wearing a splendid green outfit, corseted and fitted, with a green feather in her hat, which was most likely a costume from That Forsyte Woman (1949), designed by Walter Plunkett (costume designer for Gone With the Wind among other iconic films).

I used to study those portraits as I waited for my brother to get out of rehearsal. I was fascinated with how lovely she was, and how glamorous she looked with her flame red hair and green dress. Of course Miss Garson was often to be seen out and about in Santa Fe, and on one occasion in particular my mother spotted her on the Plaza downtown and pointed her out to me. I replied, “Oh, Mom, that can’t be Greer Garson. That woman is OLD.” I was nice and loud too. My mom says Miss Garson smiled, even laughed a little and cordially nodded her head. I don’t really remember that part though. 😉

My review of Pride and Prejudice (1940)

My overall evaluation is that the 1940 adaptation was frothier and played for more obvious laughs than Jane Austen’s original. I enjoyed the film, but it lacked the character depth present in the novel and (some) later adaptations. Specifically, the necessity of condensing the story for a 2 hour film completely negated the dramatic reversal at the midpoint when Darcy delivers his letter to Elizabeth and all is revealed about George Wickham. And the screenwriters took out my favorite part: the visit to Pemberley where Elizabeth meets Darcy on his own turf. The sublime tension of that moment where so much can be misunderstood but each is inclined to think well of the other…the fact that that moment is missing from this version deflates the whole second half of the movie.

The supporting cast, as is frequently the case in P&P adaptations, was brilliant. Particularly Mr. Bennet played by Edmund Gwenn (from Miracle on 34th Street) and Mrs. Bennet played by Mary Boland. In addition, Frieda Inescort was icily condescending as the disapproving Miss Bingley.

Much has been made in other reviews of the costuming. These are not the classic Empire waisted dresses of the Regency period. However, they are from just a little later, the Romantic period (late 1820s-1830s), under the reign of George IV (the former Regent himself). I actually enjoyed the costuming because it was consistent throughout the film. In other words, if you are going to pick a period, stay there and don’t mix and match. And of course, this film did receive an Academy Award for Art Direction.

Heathcliff and Mrs. Miniver

Now for the main characters. As I watched this version , I couldn’t help but notice two things: first, there was no chemistry at all between Greer Garson as Elizabeth and Laurence Olivier as Darcy; and second, the great Laurence Olivier never seemed to capture the spirit of Mr. Darcy, and the role sat oddly on his admittedly broad shoulders.

I was curious whether their stiffness with each other was just a characteristic of acting in general at that time, or specifically of these actors, so I viewed some clips of other contemporary films with the same actors opposite different leads. The contrast was startling for both Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier. Laurence Olivier is perhaps one of the greatest actors of all time, honored with 10 Oscar nominations for acting (winning once), in addition to awards for directing and honorary awards. Mr. Olivier was smoldering and brilliant as the moody Heathcliff in the adaptation of Emily Bronte’s classic Wuthering Heights (1939), but his awkward gestures as Darcy were distracting, almost effeminate, and his voice nasally.

Meanwhile, Greer Garson took home an Oscar in 1942 for her portrayal of another literary figure, Mrs. Miniver, playing opposite the gawky everyman actor, Walter Pidgeon. She would go on to star in 7 more films with Pidgeon, including 1941’s Blossoms in the Dust pictured left, and garner 7 total Oscar nominations in her career. I thought her performance as Elizabeth was charming and clever, except in the scenes with Darcy where she seemed to be trying too hard.

Olivier and Garson were arguably the best performers of their age, just not perhaps in these roles or with each other.

A couple of other Old Hollywood tidbits:

Vivian Leigh, the actress best known for her role as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind (1939), was the love of Laurence Olivier’s life. Even while they were both married to other people, their affair was an open secret in Hollywood, which paralleled the roles they played opposite each other in That Hamilton Woman (1941) as Jane Austen’s contemporaries, Admiral Lord Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton. The costumers played fast and loose with the Regency era costumes in that movie too.

Greer Garson, nominated for an Academy Award in 1939 for Goodbye Mr. Chips, lost out to Vivian Liegh (also a British actress) who won for Scarlett.

When Greer Garson won the Oscar in 1943 for Mrs. Miniver, her acceptance speech was the longest in Academy history, clocking in at over 5 minutes. You have her to thank for the “get off the stage” music of today’s Award show.

So, do you watch the old black and white movies? Do you find the acting of that era stilted in general, or is it role or actor dependent? What did you think of Olivier’s Darcy?

Information credits: Wikipedia pages for Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, and Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)

Beauty of a Woman BlogFest: Beautiful Moments

Thanks are due for the second year in a row to the lovely and talented writer August McLaughlin, and her wonderful idea for a blog festival. Inspired by Sam Levinson’s poem The Beauty of a Woman, which you can read on August’s blog here, we are talking about beauty, feeling beautiful, aging gracefully, and that inner glow. Check out her blog today and tomorrow for stories, prizes, and links to other great blogs!

My contribution from last year surprised even me. As I said then, this blogging thing never really turns out how you expect, but something is always revealed. For this year’s post, I got to thinking about the question, “When have you felt most beautiful?”

I came across Gustav Klimt’s painting The Three Ages of Woman recently as I researched a character for my novel-in-progress. I have been fortunate to see the original in the Museo d’Arte Moderna in Rome. I came around a tucked-away corner, and there it was, at the end of a hallway. Klimt’s figures in this work represent the triangle of femininity often embraced by western culture and repeated in stories, marketing, and media — the Virgin, the Mother, and the Crone. Though not as celebrated as The Kiss, The Three Ages of Woman is interesting in Internet reproduction and stunning in the gold-leaf splendor of the original. The detail of the mother and her little sleeping daughter, lovely. The figure of the crone…well…but that’s the one that draws you in, for its gritty, powerful reality. The knotty knuckles, the fall of wavy grey hair, the strong wide feet. And you know, the more you look at the work, the more it is the crone that is the beautiful one — every bit as appealing as the swirling loveliness of the sweet mother and infant. Here in that stark figure is the truth of a life lived and survived.

I have come to think, however, that a woman experiences beauty not in stages as in Klimt’s painting, but in moments. More like the beads I used to string on dental floss with my young daughters. Some patterns were repeated, some were unique. Some of the necklaces were large and lovely to be seen in public, and some were small and completed only for private viewing, to be tucked away in a secret place, or your heart. So to answer the question, “When have you felt most beautiful?” here are some, a very few, of MY moments:

• Pulling on my little white gloves with the pearl button on the wrist and the white marabou around the cuffs at about age six.
• When all of my bridesmaids helped me dress in the cramped choir room in the church where I was married, and the moment after that when my husband-to-be laid eyes on me at the end of the aisle.
• The incredibly soft star-shaped hands of my daughter stroking my arm as she nursed.
• My girls piled on either side of me in bed as we read a book of their choosing.
• Beating another bike racer to the line in a full-out sprint.
• Right now, remembering all these things.

What are some of YOUR moments? Do women’s lives have stages? Are all stages beautiful?

Painting at right: Klimt’s Goldfish

Be My Valentine, Mr. Grey

I finally read all three of E L James’s blockbuster Fifty Shades trilogy. I read them at the urging of friends. I read them because when something this big occurs in the world of books, you want to form your own opinions. I read them because as a lifelong romance reader I was intrigued how a story that’s really a staple of the genre became so popular. Though there have been many, many reviews of Fifty Shades of Grey, I am going to add my own impressions to the general din because hey, it’s my blog! AND because Valentine’s Day is my birthday. 😉

I’m not going to worry about announcing **SPOILERS** because I figure if you wanted to read 50 Shades, you already would have by now. And if you don’t want to read it, the spoilers won’t bother you.

Things I didn’t like in the 50 Shades books (AKA a few unanswered questions):

1. Why did Ms. James decide to set the series in Seattle if she was going to have her characters speak the Queen’s English? “Laters, baby.” “Kinky f**kery.” “Fancy a game?” All British-isms. Christian even says, “Quite.” I ask you, do you know any American men who would use that word in that way? Ever?

2. Why do we never find out why Anastasia is so inhibited about sex? We spend the whole story in her head but she never mulls over why she decided to hang on to her virginity and her apparent ignorance about things sexual until she met the enigmatic Mr. Grey.

3. Why did Kate Kavanaugh, college newspaper editor extraordinaire, send her roommate Anastasia Steele to interview Seattle’s hottest bachelor billionaire with only a list of questions and no other preparation? Did she have laryngitis in addition to her flu and couldn’t speak? This in a way is a deal breaker for me story-wise because this unbelievable set up both starts and ends the story (the ending is from Christian’s point of view. Wished for a little more of that…)

4. At the climax of Book 3, after everything they’ve been through, why does Christian STILL think Ana is leaving him when she withdraws $5 million to save his sister Mia from kidnappers (other than it is a necessary plot device)? This does not bode well for their continued happiness, IMO.

Things I DID like (AKA why Christian Grey would make a great Valentine):

1. He is constantly feeding her while telling her she’s too thin. 🙂

2. He also tells her she’s beautiful, smart, capable, and most of all, sexy.

3. He gives her things: clothes, cars (Audis!), first edition Thomas Hardy, trips to France, Laboutin’s, a publishing company, hearts and flowers, an iPad with all of his favorite songs downloaded, orgasms.

4. His “vanilla” sex gives new flavorful meaning to the finest of the flavors.

5. His non-vanilla dominant sex (what’s the opposite of vanilla? chocolate?) is creative, uses fun props, and (control issues aside) is all about Ana (see #3 orgasms). Except when it’s about jealousy or revenge, in which case there is always a safe word, and it’s not “vanilla.”

6. He thinks of her while he is at work. We know this because he sends her great emails. In fact the email exchange between the two was one of my favorite parts of the whole series.

I have read many, many romance novels–which is maybe why friends urged me to read these books—and regarding 50 Shades of Grey, I am more in the “meh” category than the “love,” so I offer this list of follow up reads:

If you liked 50 Shades for the complex story of how a young man damaged by an abusive past–but good to the core–is redeemed by the power of love, there is no one who does that storyline better IMO than the Queen of Romance herself, Nora Roberts. Her Chesapeake Bay series Sea Swept, Rising Tide, Inner Harbor, and Chesapeake Blue are some of her best.

If you liked 50 Shades for the singe-your-eyelashes sex with dominant men and the feisty women who love them, I recommend Lora Leigh’s EARLIER BOOKS, Wild Card (recently reprinted with a 50 Shades-type cover), Hidden Agendas, and Dangerous Games (I don’t recommend the later series because they suffer from repetition and a general lack of editing IMO).

If you liked 50 Shades for the escape of the “life style porn” of glamorous clothes, private jets, yachts in Monte Carlo,

and brooding men who own all these things and want to give them (and their love!)  to one special, possibly virginal, young lady, try Harlequin’s long-running “Presents” series, particularly Jane Porter, Caitlin Crews, and India Grey. The books tend to have really off-putting titles like Bedded by the Billionaire and His Majesty’s Secret Baby but the writing is emotion-laden and intense.

Blinkie courtesy E L James author website.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY, EVERYONE!!! Anyone have great plans for V-day? Any book recommendations? Whatcha been reading lately?

The Technology of Packaging Words: Digital vs. Print

I have a book problem. Meaning because I love books, I have more than I probably can ever read, and yet I adore finding a new book, cracking it open and immersing myself in the story world. The hubster stated the other day that books should not be the ONLY decorating theme in our home, to which I replied, “Why the heck not?”

But I admit it is a problem, illustrated by these pics of my many, many bookshelves, from the spare and uncluttered one in the living room to the one actually jam-crammed inside a closet (just a sampling, I assure you). I could have one of those rooms with floor to ceiling shelves like the library of Downton Abbey (complete with a book-laden door that leads to the music room! Click link and scroll down for the picture) and STILL find more books I want to read. Don’t let him fool you, the hubster likes books too. Weighty tomes with weighty titles like The History of the World, Come Retribution, and Diseases of Animals, as well as Life of Pi and The Last Werewolf. My shelves, on the other hand, are a jumble (and I mean JUMBLE!) of romantic and historical fiction, history and biography, and writing craft books.

And then there are my ebooks. I actually have a Kindle and an iPad (on which I have installed iBooks, Kindle, Nook, GooglePlay, AND Kobo apps). And the books are just as jumbled up there as they are on the shelves. Truth be known, I have a little stash of books in PDF on my computer too. All of which makes the argument of digital versus paper, for me, really about packaging. The MAGIC of a book is what is inside the package. Whether you open the cover or click on the icon, that’s just the delivery technology, the true innovation is the language itself.

If pressed, I would probably choose paper books as my story vehicle of choice, but only if I had unlimited shelf space–that decorating issue remains. With paper books, I feel a commonality with generations that have gone before me. I mean, Jane Austen held a book in her hand, opened it, and read the story contained therein. Just as I opened HER book, Pride and Prejudice, the other day and did the same. There was a time when people–humans–were NOT able to reach back in history and feel kinship with “book” readers. The printed word was new. A new technology, just like the digital book. But the STORIES, well, they were still around then, weren’t they?

Do you have a digital versus print preference for your reading? Or a shelf problem? Or a decorating theme you just can’t agree on? I’d love to hear about it…

Happy Anniversary, Pride and Prejudice!

Today’s 200th anniversary of the printing of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
is (for me!) a perfect moment to announce my participation in Laurel Ann Nattress’s P&P Bicentenary Challenge. If you have been reading along, you already know I am a Jane Austen fan! In fact, this post on Jane’s Irish connections apparently was my most viewed in 2012.

Here are the basics of the Challenge (details can be found on Laurel Ann’s blog):

Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge

Time-line: The Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge 2013 runs January 1, through December 31, 2013.

Levels of participation: Neophyte: 1 – 4 selections, Disciple: 5 – 8 selections, Aficionada: 9 – 12 selections.

Enrollment: Sign ups are open until July 1, 2013. First, select your level of participation.  Second, copy the Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge 2013 graphic from the Austenprose blog and include it in your blog post detailing the novels or movies that you commit to reading and watching in 2013. Third, leave a comment linking back to your blog post in the comments of the Austenprose announcement post. OR, if you do not have a blog you can still participate. Just leave your commitment to the challenge in the comments section of the P&P Bicentenary post.

My Selections

I found quite a few versions of Pride and Prejudice in my personal library, plus a few continuations, retellings and off-shoots. Enough to up my level of participation to Aficionada. What a great way to dive into some books that have languished in the To Be Read pile and to revisit my favorite movie adaptations of this most romantic classic. I don’t have months assigned to each one yet, but here is the list so far:

BOOKS

Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Match by Marilyn Brandt (2012)

Pride and Prejudice, The Annotated Edition edited by Patricia Meyer Spacks (2010)

Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James (2011)

The Darcys and The Bingleys by Marsha Altman (2008)

The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Anne Collins (2008)

Pemberley by the Sea by Abigail Reynolds (2008)

Definitely Not Mr. Darcy by Karen Doornebos (2011)

FILMS

Pride and Prejudice (movie with Keira Knightly 2005)

Pride and Prejudice (BBC/A&E miniseries with Jennifer Ehle 1995)

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (movie with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier 1940)

I hope you will join me as we celebrate Jane Austen’s lasting legacy through the most popular and well-known of her novels, Pride and Prejudice.

“He walked here and he walked there, fancying himself so very great!” ~Mrs. Bennet in P&P

How to Finish Your Novel In 6 Excruciatingly Easy Steps

My first novel began during a NaNoWriMo while I was living in Rome. I talked about that writing adventure with best-selling author Diane Capri in an interview on her blog Diane Capri Reveals yesterday. Because that first novel began in a frenzy, I have high hopes for this second one, having just completed a 50,000 word draft in the last 30 days…

Someone asked me once if I had always written stories. The truth is: no. Sadly, no. I became interested in constructing fiction—writing it—only a few years ago, when I looked around my bookshelves and saw that fiction is what I read, what I have always read. Oh, I round out my to-be-read pile with a good non-fiction account here and there, but my love of reading has always been about a good story. And, again truthfully, I am no journalist. I can construct a decent feature article, but my heart isn’t really in it. I only achieve that elusive “flow” when I write fiction.

As I said to Diane, it was Rome that really inspired me to write fiction. There was so much to look at, so many stories: An embracing couple in the gardens of the Villa Borghese—what was their story? A lovely woman, with rings on every finger and Fendi pumps on her feet, striding down the Corso with a frown on her face—what was her story? A beautiful man, speaking with animation, and many gestures, into his cell phone—what was his story? And because I didn’t really know these people’s stories, I made them up. And then I wrote them down. Fiction.

Of course Rome has been inspiring writers for thousands of years. It’s part of the charm. As Tacitus said, “All things atrocious and shameless flock from all parts to Rome.” What a wonderland of ideas, of marvels to observe, and people to enjoy. I miss it. But the good part is, I have my published novel The Vendetta to remind me of Rome. Cool, huh?

So, since I have done it once, here are my tips to for writing and finishing a novel:

1. Find a topic you are passionate about. Even if you don’t write historical novels, you are still going to have to do at least a little research on setting and character occupations. Even if your characters live where you live and do what you do, they are not going to be you exactly. If you start out on page 1 with a topic/setting/occupation that doesn’t hold your interest, you will regret it on page 62. Trust me.

2. Write. This is where NaNoWriMo comes in handy. I find that self imposed deadlines are not nearly as effective as ones that have the guilt of social pressure attached (and/or if you are cursed lucky enough to have a publishing contract, monetary pressure too). 50,000 words in 30 days is doable. 1667 words per day. For 30 days. Sounds simple. And it is, mostly. But beware what must drop by the wayside as you pursue this goal. These are pictures of actual dust bunnies under my (unmade) bed. I am thinking of naming them. Any suggestions since Flopsy and Mopsy are already taken?

3. Rewrite. My favorite part. The rewrite can take many more months than the actual drafting. Find a system that works for you. Some suggestions: The Weekend Novelist Rewrites the Novel by Robert J. Ray and Manuscript Makeover by Elizabeth Lyon

4. Send out for comments. You should have at least one, ideally three, readers you can send a rough draft to for their comments. This is not a line edit but an attempt to capture their impressions of the overall flow. Are they confused anywhere? Did the story drag in places? What did they really like about the story?

5. Rewrite some more. After comments you may have to rewrite the thing again. By this time you will be sick of this story and these characters. But persevere, the book will get better with each draft.

6. Let it go and start something new. The truth is, you will never feel like your novel is really DONE done. Whether you hide your manuscript under the bed or you send it out into the world to be rejected, or published, or rejected AND published, at some point you will need to let it go. It is finished. Find that new thing/setting/character that fires your passions, write about it, then rinse and repeat.

Do you have any tips for writing or getting something done that you always wanted to do? I am thinking of getting a robotic vacuum, but then the bunnies would get eaten. Suggestions?