In the News...

I’ve been trying to distract myself from a task that I have no interest in (obviously it’s not related to writing), so naturally I’ve turned to the Internet for inspiration/therapy/excuses. Sadly, that means I’ve been reading a myriad of articles on supposed news sites that, for the most part, are absolutely meaningless, stupid, or unbelievably inane. I can’t believe some of the articles I read or the teaser headlines (Fecal Matter and You--Swimming Pool Survival Tips), but I read them anyway just to see how far out these journalistic outlets have gone on reporting some of their “news.”

Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes I’ll find an amazingly insightful article on something that’s actually newsworthy; however, most of what I’ve read lately has led me to believe that’s the exception, not the standard. So, for today’s post, in the spirit of Internet journalism, I’ve come up with a list of article suggestions for these news outlets in case they run out of articles on the royal birth. They’re below.

1.How Your Mascara Could Kill Your Neighbor’s Parakeet
2.How to Dance with a Creepy Guy to Avoid Dancing with a Creepier Guy
3.How to Write an Article on What Not to Say to a Pregnant Woman Without Sounding Like an Obnoxious Pregnant Woman
4.Five ways to Turn Your $5,000 Wedding Dress into Napkins
5.Six Wines You Should Drink All at Once
6.Three Reasons Why Men/Women Cheat
7.Two Reasons Why No One Cares if Men/Women Cheat
8.How to Teach a Squid to Dance
9.The Latest Cure for Menopause…NOT! Ha Ha Ha!
10.How Facebook Changes the Molecules in Your Blood
11.How to Convince Your Child to Elope So You Can Save $30,000 on a Wedding That Has a 75% Chance of Ending in Divorce
12.Disgusting Facts About Bras and the Women Who Wear them
13.How Your Pajamas May Be Enlarging Your Pituitary Gland
14.Teens—Dumber Than Ever Because of Technology
15.Adults—Dumber Than Ever For Believing Technology Makes Teens Dumb
16.How Facebook is Stealing Your Soul
17.Why You Shouldn’t Throw Up in a Job Interview
18.Why You Shouldn’t Hit on Your Sister’s Best Friend’s Brother’s Girlfriend’s Sister
19.Ten Reasons Why Queen Elizabeth is Queen Elizabeth
20.How to Create the Perfect Wedding Dress from Corn Chips
21.The Seven Worst Names for Your Iguana
22.The Three Best Baby Gifts for Panda Bears
23.How to Eat Corn, Tacos, and Ribs on a First Date
24.Sex Positions That Will Drive Your Neighbors Wild
25.Everything You Need to Know About Chewing Gum
26.Why Your Dog is Plotting Your Death
27.The Terrifying Microbes That Inhabit Your Armpits
28. Amazing Feats of Courage by Skunks
29. The Best Pets for Prison Inmates
30. Beauty Secrets of the Pharoahs
31. Why Your Cat Crochets When You're Not Home
32. How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse with Tampons
What do you think? Have any article ideas? Please do share. :)




 
 

Starting a New Adventure

Things have been a bit crazy in the Niles’ household. Summer is in full swing, the kids are starting to get bored, and I have to juggle deadlines with the outside job and a house full of kids. Can you say mass chaos? LOL. 

Anyway, I have some exciting news to share. I recently signed with Maureen Walters with Curtis Brown. Having an agent contact me was such a surreal moment. But Maureen’s assistant had picked up a copy of Extreme Love and loved it. She made Maureen read it. She didn’t want to, lol. She told me she wasn’t really interested in reading a book with a cagefighter, but Elizabeth persisted and Maureen finally caved. And guess what? She loved it! She loved it so much, she wanted to see if I was represented by an agent. Which I wasn’t, and an offer was made.

Can I tell you how much I love Maureen? I have the hardest time talking to people inside the industry. I’m always consumed by nerves. I wasn’t with her. She’s so easy to talk to. It was like talking to an old friend.

Now I’ve signed with her and I’m getting ready to wade into a new genre. New Adult.  I really excited about the project I’m starting. It’s my first dip into first person. I LOVE writing in first person.  Maureen said I had a knack for it from my proposal about the series I want to write. It’s different than third. Way different. It’s almost like writing in a diary and so far the words seem to flow out of me.  Now, I’m not saying it’s easier. Nope. I have my worries. Right now the words are flowing. But I’ve always written in dual POV in third person.  Never from just one characters head for what will most likely span four books. Now a lot is going to happen in these four books, so hopefully that will make the writing a bit easier. But, I do worry about repeating. 

With third person, you always write the scene from the perspective of the character who has the most to lose.  In first, all the scenes will be from one character. That thought is a bit intimidating, especially when I’m going to be forced to show the other main characters possible thoughts and feelings through this one character. Scary. I’m up for the challenge though. Trying new things keeps writing interesting. :)

So that’s my quick update.  I am sooo ready for school to start, so I can get back into my routine.

Abby

Blair Castle Part 2

Blair Castle

Today we continue our tour of Blair Castle and the grounds surrounding it. Last week I covered some of the history and shared some pics.

Blair Castle sits in the middle of a 145,000 acre estate which includes hills, farmland, mountains, forestry, housing, industrial development and hiking trails.

Blair Castle was captured by Cromwell in 1652 and held until 1660 when Charles II was restored to the throne. The 2^nd (Murray) Earl was made Marquis in 1676 as a reward for his loyalty to Charles II. His son was rewarded with a dukedom in 1703 by Queen Anne. When she wanted him to support the Act of Union between England and Scotland, he refused until better terms could be reached. As a result, he was placed under house arrest at Blair Castle for several months in 1708.

Huge trees between the road and pasture

 Things became more complex for the family during the Jacobite uprisings of 1715 and 1745. The Duke and his second son, James, supported the government. The oldest and youngest sons, William and George, supported the Jacobite cause (the Stewarts). As a result, William was stripped of his inheritance and exiled to France. The 2^nd son, James, succeeded his father in 1724. In 1745, William returned from France with Bonnie Prince Charlie and raised the Stewart standard at Glenfinnan. On the march south, they stayed at Blair Castle. His brother, the duke, had already left because knew what was happening. Soon after, government forces captured Blair Castle.

In 1746 the third son, Lord George Murray, returned from commanding the Jacobite campaign in England and besieged his own home. Before he could take possession of it, he was recalled to the Battle of Culloden. He survived but died in Holland in exile. His brother William died imprisoned in the Tower of London. Their brother James, still in possession of Blair Castle and having just inherited the Isle of Man, returned to Blair and made repairs. He turned the castle into a grand Georgian mansion. In order to keep the castle in the family, he was forced to marry off his second daughter to her first cousin, John Murray, son of the exiled George. He became the 3rd Duke in 1764. He sold the Isle of Man to the government to help finance the remodeling of another of his properties.

The 5th Duke suffered ill health and his nephew Lord Glenlyon became the 6th Duke. In the 1840s Glenlyon lent Queen Victoria Blair Castle for a three-week stay. Queen Victoria is known to have had a huge love for Scotland and the Highlands. During her stay, she was given a guard of Athollmen. In appreciation, she granted the Duke and his men her colors and the right to bear arms. This is how the Atholl Highlanders became a private army. Today they are the only private army remaining in Europe.

The 7th Duke made a huge amount of money because of the railway. He turned the Georgian mansion into a grand Victorian baronial masterpiece.

In the 20th century, wars brought financial difficulty to the estate. In 1932, the estate was formed into a company, now known as the Blair Charitable Trust. In 1936 the castle was opened to the public for tours, one of the first in Britain to welcome visitors in this way.

Bruce Murray is the current and 12th Duke of Atholl.

The Whim

The Whim is a folly built in 1761 and is simply a façade with Gothic arches and a parapet wall with two pavilions. We didn't walk all the way up to it.

Diana

 Diana's Grove is two acres of beautiful, quiet woodland beside the castle. It contains some of the country's tallest trees. One, called the Grand Fir, is the UK's second tallest tree at 62.70 meters. Diana is the Roman goddess of hunting, fertility and the moon. This woodland park was originally created by the 2nd Duke in 1737. The 7th Duke replanted it in 1871 with exotic conifers. Unfortunately many of these were blown down in a massive storm in 1893. It was later replanted with grand fir, noble fir, Douglas fir, larch, western hemlock and Wellingtonia. Many of these trees are native to North America. This is considered one of the best big tree collections in the country. Most of the trees are over a hundred years old. At least twenty of the trees are over 150 feet tall, the tallest being grand firs. One is over 208 feet tall. A Douglas fir is over 194 feet tall.

Giants

A gate in the beautiful old wall. Somewhere beyond this is a ruined kirk, St. Bride's.

click on this photo to enlarge and read the info

Walking through this grove of tall trees was an amazing experience. It's very peaceful and tranquil, shady and cool. I couldn't help but look up and try to see the tops of the trees. A stream, Banvie Burn, runs along one side of the trail.

Mount Strange

This tree is planted on a huge mound of dirt, very unusual and interesting.

Click on this photo to enlarge

18th century bridge over Banvie Burn

Such a wonderful place to walk

one of the huge trees

View of Blair Castle through the trees

Thanks for taking this walk with me through Diana's Grove!

Vonda
www.vondasinclair.com

Cover Reveal - Her Royal Masquerade

Last week I shared the blurb for the sexy and emotional category romance I plan to release in October. Today I'm able to share the absolutely perfect cover with you, designed by the talented Lacey Savage. Isn't it beautiful?

Her Royal Masquerade will be the first in the Her Royal Romance series.

Blurb:

Time is running out for Prince Vittorio. His father’s health is failing and he must find a royal bride. Fast. He’s never forgotten his glimpse of a beautiful Scandinavian princess and lures her to his Mediterranean country with an invitation to his father’s birthday ball. He’d planned to propose a marriage agreement as cold as her icy reputation, but then he discovers she's as colorful and warm as a summer sunset. The heat between them flares red-hot and when she allows him to seduce her, Vittorio sees his future unfolding just as he had planned. But what he doesn’t know is that the woman in his bed is not a princess at all.

The last thing schoolteacher Mia Holmberg expects when she masquerades as her royal cousin is to be swept off her feet by a charming prince. The incredible night in Vittorio’s arms is like a fairy tale come true, but she’d never want the life of a real princess, with all its pomp and politics. Knowing they can never have a future together, she slips out of his bed and back to reality, where she belongs. But Vittorio discovers the deception and kidnaps Mia back to his palace, demanding she be his mistress until the real princess appears. Despite her attempts to stay aloof, Mia soon learns there’s more to the prince than arrogance and attitude, but now she’s in danger of falling in love with a man she can never have.



I'll be sure and let you know as soon as it's available.

Natasha
Voluptuous - coming Sept 6th - pre-order now
Her Royal Masquerade - coming Oct 2013
Playing for Real - coming March 18, 2014
www.natashamoore.com

Off To England!

My fellow Fierce Romance blogger Leigh Court and I are off to England for a fun-filled (er, I mean research-focused) ten-day trip.

Leigh will probably have pictures for you by her next blog post on July 26.  Since Leigh writes historical romance, she’s insisting we take archery lessons and learn the finer points of falconry while we’re there. We'll probably be visiting ruins of old castles as well. On the other hand, she’s letting me drag her to a Rolling Stones concert in Hyde Park in London! This is why we get along so well J

Who knows? If we get really lucky, we may be in England when Duchess Kate gives birth! I’d love to be part of the country-wide celebrations.

So ‘cheerio’ until next month!

Cheers,
Jenna
www.jennaives.com

 

Setting the Setting

It is the middle of summer, and all I can think about is writing. Most specifically, trying to craft the settings in my stories. I've been obsessed with travel this year, as well as exotic places. But what is exotic?

I'm beginning to wonder what exotic means because to some it's just a few meters down the road. To others, it's a world away. Then to others, it's a completely different world, an imagined world that a writer introduces to readers through a story. Everything has to make sense and fall into place, including the cultures, politics, societies, geography, etc. What a responsibility that is!

I've traveled out of the country on several different occasions, and I have my favorite places. Right now, they're battling it out in a number of ways. I've got stories that feel they need the hometown touch, stories that demand the heat of the Caribbean, and stories that will wither if they aren't set in a world beyond what we already know. How do I choose?

I don't. I've started working on more than one story at a time. Right now one is set in a national park and the other is set in a world I've created, one that's arisen after the earth has been divided by catastrophe into several different kingdoms. Some are desperate to unite, while others simply want to take over the world. It takes a bit of juggling, jumping back and forth from a setting that can be researched to one that has no defined parameters geographically or in any other way. However, it's also heck of a lot of fun. Time to get back to it!

What kind of setting do you like? Small town? Big city? Country? Another planet? Island paradise? Please do share. And wherever you are, happy reading!

Blair Castle

Entry gate to Blair Castle

Blair Castle is located in northern Perthshire, near the village of Blair Atholl in central Scotland, in the southern Highlands (the Grampians). Historically, it was a strategic location which controlled the main route from the south up to Inverness.  Atholl (from the Gaelic Ath Fodhla) was an ancient Pictish Kingdom, which had kings in very early times. After that, Mormaers ruled over the area, and finally earls and dukes in later times.

Blair Castle

Blair Castle is now known as the seat of nineteen generations of Stewarts and Murrays of Atholl (earls and dukes).  But some of the earlier earls were named Strathbogie (said to have been a semi-Normanized Gaelic family from Fife) including: David de Strathbogie, 8^th Earl of Atholl (d. 1270), John de Strathbogie, 9^th Earl of Atholl (d. 1306) and David II Strathbogie  (d. 1326). Records show that in 1269, their neighbor John Cumming (Comyn) Lord of Badenoch moved in while the then earl was away on the crusades, and started building a tower. The earl complained to King Alexander III and regained his land. He kept the tower and incorporated it into his own castle. Cumming's Tower still stands as the oldest and tallest part of the castle. After rebelling against the king, Robert the Bruce in 1322, David II was forced to forfeit the titles and estates.

Click to enlarge photo

Above you can just see the tip top of Cumming's Tower at the back of the castle.

Clock Tower

As you can see, it was a bright, sunny day when we visited Blair Castle last September. First, we went inside to tour the castle. The entrance hall is amazing as it also serves as an armory with a massive amount of historical weaponry on display including targes and muskets used at the Battle of Culloden. We were only allowed to take photos in one room within the castle. This room displayed many weapons, armor, paintings and other historical pieces.

Chainmail armor, spears and other weapons

Gambeson or padded under armor with weapons

Thomas Stewart, Lieut. 77^th (Atholl) Highlanders , 1776 -1783

saddle

 Throughout the castle we saw many red deer stag heads and antlers. One reason for this is that red deer have been kept and raised at the estate for centuries as pets or like livestock in the Red Deer park. Lots of them were named. The stag in the entry hall was named Tilt after nearby Glen Tilt. He was killed in a fight with another stag in 1850 at age 13. Click here to see a photo of the Entrance Hall. You can just see Tilt's head behind the table.

Click this photo to enlarge

 The earldom changed hands several times over the next century. It was held briefly by a Campbell and others until 1457 when King James II granted the earldom of Atholl to his half-brother John Stewart as a reward. John was sent to subdue the troublesome Macdonalds, Lords of the Isles, with the royal injunction Furth Fortune and fill the fetters. A modern day translation would be: Get the chains on him and the future's yours. He was successful in his quest and this became the family motto. The 3^rd Earl added the great hall to Blair Castle. Mary Queen of Scots visited the 4^th Earl in 1564 and stayed at Blair Castle. The 5^th Earl died without sons in 1595. He had a daughter, Dorothea who married Sir William Murray of Tullibardine. Her son, John, became the 1^st Murray Earl of Atholl in 1629 and the title has remained with the Murrays since then. The title Earl of Atholl has been recreated ten times. Each time it was recreated, that person was the 1^st Earl of Atholl.

Padded under armor and helm

Red deer stag and hinds (females) in the Red Deer Park

Part of the red deer herd

Click this photo to enlarge

 An amazing view over the Scottish countryside. The grass is incredibly green. I loved seeing the mountains in the distance.

Stone wall that encloses Diana's Grove

A road through the beautiful estate.

I hope you've enjoyed this brief tour.  Next time we'll take a walk through Diana's Grove and see the incredible tall trees.

Thanks!

Vonda

www.vondasinclair.com

 Lady Angelique Drummagan, a half-Scottish, half-French countess, has suffered much pain and betrayal in her past. She wants nothing to do with the sensual Scottish warrior that the king has ordered her to marry because the rogue could never be a faithful husband, but she has little choice in the matter. Dangerous, greedy enemies threaten her from all sides and she's in dire need of his protection.

Sir Lachlan MacGrath, known as Seducer of the Highlands, possesses a charming wickedness and canny wit which has earned him much popularity. After the king decrees that he wed the fiery hellion, Lachlan discovers there is one woman who can resist him--Angelique. Can he break through her icy façade and melt her heart, or will the dark secrets lurking in her past not only cost them their future together, but their very lives?