Finished and off to my editor

My current work in progress, entitled in my contract Regency Duet 1 has been delivered to my editors! Hooray! Hooray! I know it will be a really strong read once they have let me know their thoughts.

Now a scarred Richard Armitage/John Thornton type gets to be my next hero and I am seriously looking forward to it.

I listened to the BBC Radio 4 programme on M&B yesterday. A number of other bloggers including Trish Wylie, Kate Walker, Natasha Oakley and Teach Me Tonight have already commented on it. They basically gave a fair assessement.

I do think Joanne Carr's comment to the presenter as she was critquing the offering was really apt -- you did not pay very much attention to what we were saying in the workshop.

Sometimes, people are so blinded by their agendas that they don't pay much attention to what other people are saying. That was the big failing of the programme.

I do thank God that we are no longer considered to be authoresses but as writers or authors. An authoress sounds like someone who dines on ortolan and drinks pink champagne before writing purple prose with a pink quill. Authoress does found quite frankly patronizing. It belongs to another era.

And one of the other problems with the programme is that it attempted to do too much. Was it a history of M&B or was it an attempt to look at M&B today? If it was a history, why not mention Ida Cook, the M&B author who quite famously used the proceeds of her writing to save Jews from Nazi Germany?

I rather thought the How to book from the 1960s was a relic of the past. And issues and themes that are vexxing authors today are not the same ones that inspired authors in the past.

Right, my house is a tip. There is a ton of admin to catch up on and I have another book due before Christmas.

Media Perception of M&B

On Thursday at 11:30, there is a radio programme about Mills and Boon entitled Guilty Pleasures. There will be a play again feature and I believe people can listen via the internet from anywhere in the world.
The presenter, I believe, has done a lot of research and interviewed lots of readers, editors etc, but the blurb for the programme shows what a mountain one has to climb, particularly when dealing with preconceptions.
For example, it mentions Helen Fielding was once rejected by M&B. I am not sure if this is a great crime. Simply, because someone later becomes a popular writer does that mean their earlier work should have automatically been published. I know I am profoundly grateful that my early work wasn't published. I needed time to allow my voice to grow and mature.
It bothers me that from the outset they are focussing on people who did not make it. Why not focus on those who got their start with HM&B -- such as Rosemunde Pilcher? Lucilla Andrews? Both Rosemunde Pilcher and Lucilla Andrews spawned novel genres. Or on the other side of the Atlantic --Nora Roberts, Linda Howard, Jennifer Cruisie, Sandra Brown, Debbie Macomber -- to name but a few. Nora Roberts is considered to be one of the 50 most influential people in the US according to Time Magazine.
I am also bothered by the title -- guilty. Why should anyone feel guilty about reading? Since when is reading a sin? Why shouldn't people read things they enjoy? Why should people simply read things that other people deem hold some sort of virtue?
I love the fact that I get readers who write in to tell me that they are suddenly excited about history after reading one of my books.
Why does no one mention what a great export M&B books are? Over the years, they have enticed many a woman (including me) into wanting to visit the UK. They provide a positive view of the UK and other locations. Because they are exported to over 109 different countries, they help with the balance of trade.
Anyway, I shall listen to the programme but quite probably with gritted teeth.