Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking. ~Voltaire

I mentioned a while ago that my current Middlemarch work-in-progress is giving me problems. I also reported I thought I’d fixed my problem. Alas, no! I reached chapter three and didn’t know where to go next. My solution was to put the WIP aside and work on something else. I’ve almost finished working on the something else. In fact I’m ready to send it to my editor this week. Unfortunately, I still had no solution to my problem…until today. A lightbulb moment while I was in the shower. I’ve really found the answer to my problem this time and tomorrow, I’m off to the cafe to start work again.

I do my best thinking while I’m in the shower. I’ve no idea why this is because it just happens. Maybe it’s something to do with the water? I also do some of my better thinking while I’m walking the dog and cycling. After my bike crash last month, I try not to concentrate too hard on my thinking while I’m cycling. Thinking in this case can lead to accidents! Brilliant thoughts can occur at any time of the day, but not usually in the middle of the night. I like my sleep.

When do you do your best thinking?

After reading Leah Braemel’s post on making a book trailer and seeing her new trailer last week, I decided to try making one of my own. Armed with Leah’s instructions, plus the instructions I’d saved a while ago from Brenda Coulter, I started on my book trailer journey.

I enjoyed making my trailer, although Leah was right when she said it was a huge time suck. It took me all of Saturday night plus most of Sunday to get as far as I have. It’s fairly basic and I haven’t experimented much with fading pictures out etc. That will come with my next attempt. One thing I knew for sure was that I shouldn’t make my trailer too long. As a viewer of trailers, my attention wanders after one and a half minutes. I decided I needed to make my trailer as short as I could.

There are some wonderful book trailers available for viewing on Youtube and some real stinkers. I think mine fits somewhere in the middle. I’m happy with my first attempt, and I’m sure that next time will be easier because I’ve learned so much. Trial by doing!

Do you like to make book trailers? Do you have any handy hints to share on making trailers? Readers, do you enjoy watching trailers or do you run a mile when you see authors promoting them? Are there particular things you like or dislike about trailers?

I’m blogging over at Access Romance on Monday 19th January. The subject? My recent trip to Tongariro National Park. The post goes live at 6.00am. I hope you’ll pop over and say hello.

Political correctness (commonly abbreviated to PC) is a term applied to language, ideas, policies, or behavior where people seek to minimize offense to gender, racial, cultural, disabled, aged or other identity groups.

Two members of the British Royal family have been in trouble recently because they’ve used words some members of the public think are out of place. Prince Harry used the word “Paki” when talking about a fellow cadet from Pakistan, and His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales called one of his friends, “Sooty”. The man he called Sooty is of Indian descent and has been known by this name for years. Here’s a link to the story.

Prince Harry apologized for his remarks, which were recorded in a private video three years ago, while the Prince of Wales’ friend Sooty has said he wasn’t offended by the long-standing nickname.

Here’s another link to a series of print ads from the past. Most of them are not very kind to women. They actually made me chuckle when I saw them, although I’m not sure I would have approved if I had been around at the time.

In New Zealand I’ve heard of children being taught alternative words to old and popular songs because the original songs are deemed inappropriate. e.g. Baa Baa Black sheep being changed to Rainbow sheep. Here’s a link to a story about the song at an English nursery.

Sometimes I just shake my head because I believe we try too hard to be politically correct. Sometimes we are too sensitive to words or ideas and forget to have a sense of humor. It must be a nightmare for people in the public eye, eg. the Royal family or political figures who have to walk the tightrope of correctness all the time. I’m not saying we should go around and use racial slurs or the like, just that we should use a bit more commonsense when it comes to political correctness.

What do you think? Do we go too far sometimes? Ladies, what did you think of the print ads?

I enjoy watching a good game of rugby, and it’s no secret that I gain hero inspiration while I’m watching all those players run up and down the field. I also like reading romance, so I was excited to hear Harlequin is releasing some rugby related romances. The first book, the Prince’s Waitress Wife by Sarah Morgan launches on 1 February.

Here’s a link to the Rugby Football Union page with the story.

And speaking of rugby romances, I’m ahead of the times because I have two stories out already with Ellora’s Cave. Issy’s Infatuation is about women’s rugby while Best Man is an m/m story that features two rugby players.

And finally, I have a cover for my February 27 release, Leticia’s Lovers. You can find a blurb and excerpt if you follow this link.

I heard on the news this morning that the 1911 census of England and Wales has been released to the public and is available online. Evidently enterprising people have already checked out David Beckham and Amy Winehouse’s ancestors.

Pre-writing days I was very interested in genealogy and have done quite a bit of research on my family. My father’s family came from Cheshire in England. There’s also a bit of Irish ancestory there as well as Welsh. My father’s family were farmers and until my generation that trend continued. My brother is an engineer while I went into accountancy before I started writing full time. My sister lives on the farm and is closest to being a farmer, but she works full-time as a banker as well.

My mother’s family came from England – Warwickshire to be exact – and were farmers. My mother’s side of the family includes ancestors who were shipped to Australia as convicts. John Fawkner was a convicted felon, transported for receiving stolen goods. He took his family with him to Australia on board the HMS Calcutta. John’s son, John Pascoe Fawkner was one of the founders of Melbourne. I have in my bookcase a very interesting biography written by CP Billot about his life. He was a bit of a skelliwag and got into trouble as well.

Here’s the link to the 1911 census.

And to finish off – here’s an ad from New Zealand that proves it’s not always a good idea to look to the past!

Are you interested in genealogy? Have you researched your family history?

I was very excited to learn TEA FOR TWO won the 5 Heart Sweetheart award from The Romance Studio this week.

This week’s 5 Heart Sweetheart…

“Ms. Shelley Munro is quickly becoming a must read author. I enjoy her style and her approach to her varied plots. These two main characters were certainly no exception. The storyline was full of secrets (from both Hayley and Sam). The more time the couple spent together, the less likely it became that Sam would buy into his family’s theory that Norville’s fell in love at first sight. Ms. Munro has such an appealing way of revealing her story that it is impossible to put down the book.” – Brenda Talley.

Thanks so much to The Romance Studio and all the readers who voted for Tea For Two!

This is a bit of a story, so grab a coffee and get comfortable.

Mr. Munro went to pick up Scotty from the kennels on Sunday. The kennel assistant came out with Scotty and a basket that didn’t belong to her. Hubby said, “That’s not Scotty’s basket.” But evidently Scotty had slept in that basket the entire time we were away. (Let’s call this event one)

The kennel people ran around looking for Scotty’s tatty basket and couldn’t find it. It is tatty with the stuffing showing through the fabric but she doesn’t like the new ones we purchased for her. She likes the old one. They looked high and low and finally said hubby could take the basket Scotty had been sleeping in. Subsequent investigations i.e. looking at the label says this basket belongs to a dog called Dexter. (Let’s call this event two)

Hubby and Scotty went off to collect a chainsaw from a friend so he could cut down a tree. When he went to load the chainsaw into the car he discovered the wee dog had had an accident of the smelly kind. Hubby assures me he didn’t shout at her, but I don’t really believe him. Scotty is very good but sometimes she can’t move fast enough to reach the great outdoors. In this case she was trapped inside the car. (Let’s call this event three)

Hubby and Scotty arrived at home. Scotty went straight into the tub for a wash and shampoo while I put her new basket (the one that used to belong to Dexter) into the washing machine and cleaned out the car. (Let’s call this event four)

Scotty went outside to dry while hubby prepared for his tree chopping adventure. I went inside to check my email and think about writing, housework and the like. I heard sudden shouting and swearing in the garage and went racing out to investigate. While hubby was washing Scotty in the tub, she knocked the washing machine outlet pipe and it dropped to the ground, unnoticed by hubby. When the washing machine emptied, it emptied out into the garage and we ended up with a flood. (Let’s call this event five)

Hubby and I frantically mopped and wiped up water, shifting stuff in the garage and panicking in case the water seeped through the wall into the house and wet the carpet. (Let’s call this event six)

Now: I’m going to leave you on a traditional hook – Will the Munros save their carpet from becoming wet and moldy? And will Dexter turn up to reclaim his basket?

It struck me while I was mopping frantically and running the weird series of events through my head that this was typical plotting. It’s what writers try to do while plotting a book. They try to make each crisis bigger and more alarming to test the characters. Yep, I’d experienced a lesson in plotting all in the space of an hour. It actually served as a reminder. I need to be a little meaner to my characters in my current Middlemarch book. They needed to suffer just as Mr Munro and I suffered.

Do you think some authors overdo the series of events and torture their characters too much? Do you think that characters aren’t tested enough and we authors let them off too easily? What are your thoughts about plotting?

…that a person uses different muscles climbing up and down mountains to when they cycle, walk and run?

OR:

…to take better care of my big toe – the same toe that I injured while ice skating when I was in my teens, the same toe the Goal Attack or Goal Shoot managed to jump on every netball season after that. I’ve given up counting the number of times that toe nail has bruised and dropped off. Another one coming up to add to the number.

I Hurt.

My special guest today is Emily Bryan. Emily has a new release coming out on 24 February called Vexing the Viscount and I caught up with her for a quick interview.

1. Tell us a little about Emily Bryan and your upcoming book Vexing the Viscount.

First of all, thank you, Shelley for this chance to visit with your readers! A little about Emily Bryan, huh? Emily is my pen name for my light-hearted, sexy historicals. I wrote 3 dramatic Viking romances as Diana Groe before I told my editor I wanted to try my hand at adding a little comedy. She said to go for it and the result was Distracting the Duchess (Reviewers’ Choice Best KISS Nominee-RTBookReviews). The tone was so different from my previous work, my editor suggested a different pen name and Emily Bryan was born. Last August, Pleasuring the Pirate was tapped by the Official International Talk Like A Pirate website as a recommended read for all would-be scallywags. On February 24th, Vexing the Viscount is coming to a bookstore near you!

Vexing the Viscount is the story of Daisy Drake, an intrepid young miss who enjoys intellectual curiosities like the phallus-shaped lamp on display at the Society of Antiquaries and raiding her great-aunt’s library to read the memoirs of a French courtesan. She is still fascinated by Lucian Beaumont, now Viscount Rutland, whom she first met when they were both children. Lucian has discovered some Roman ruins on his father’s estate and hopes to follow the clues to a legionary payroll that went astray in the 5th century. Because his father has a hatred of all Drakes, Lucian rejects Daisy’s offer to help, but she’s not about to let a little thing like that to stop her! Masquerading as a French courtesan is only the first ploy in her conquest of Lucian. You can read an excerpt here.

2. The Eighteenth century is one of my favorite historical eras. I noticed you have some fascinating information about clothing from this era, and in particular corsets, on your website. Could you tell us a little about corsets. What is Daisy’s opinion of corsets?

A corset was an essential piece of a Georgian lady’s wardrobe. It created a smooth line from waist to breasts. A gown wouldn’t fit properly without it. And because the corset was tailored for the lady’s figure, it should have been fairly comfortable unless laced too tightly. The corset was worn over the chemise, so unlike today’s underwire bra, the boning shouldn’t have chafed.

Georgians did not fetishize breasts as we do today. The daring décolletage that might even have included baring the nipples was as likely to be displayed by well-born ladies as courtesans.

Daisy doesn’t mind corsets, but she is easily irritated by panniers (the wire or wicker contraptions that expand the width of a woman’s hips by several feet.) It’s difficult to be stealthy when one must turn sideways to make it through a doorway.

If you’d like to learn more about clothing in the Age of Deception, please visit my Courtesan’s Closet.

3. Daisy first met Lucian when she was a child. What was it about Lucian that fascinated her so much during that first meeting?

Vexing the Viscount only hints at the sparks that flew when Daisy first met Lucian. One thing we do know for certain is that he bears a triangle-shaped scar on his chin as a souvenir of the encounter.

But I suspect she was drawn to him because unlike the freckled Cornish boys she grew up with, Lucian had his Italian mother’s olive skin and dark-eyed good looks along with vestiges of a perfectly charming Italian accent.

And undoubtedly an Italian temper to match.

CONTEST:

I’m delighted to be able to offer a FREE signed copy of Vexing the Viscount to one of Shelley’s readers today. All you have to do to be eligible is post a comment or question. Then be sure to check back tomorrow to see if you’re the winner. I’ll post the winner in the comments section.

I’m sure I’ve written about vanity plates on cars before. A lot of people have them in New Zealand. Today when I was driving home from my writing session at the coffee shop, I passed a car with the number plate BIG RAJ.

Now I don’t know if it’s me and my erotic romance writing but my mind immediately dropped into the gutter and I thought about the male anatomy. No way would I drive around in a car with that number plate. It’s just wrong. Heck, it smacks of vanity.

I’ve seen some good ones, and I think they can be a good business tool. Others make me cringe. I think if I had one, I’d go for something plain like SHELL. Yep, boring but not cringe worthy!

Question: What do you think of vanity plates? Do you have one? If you could have any vanity plate you wanted what would you have? What’s the worst one you’ve seen?