Kit Marlowe Speaks / TOF: Impromptu

Kit Marlowe makes a visit over at JoJo's Book Corner today where she reads from The Mangrove Legacy and gives away prizes including an exclusive mug! This is all part of the building excitement for Authors After Dark where Kit and I and a whole host of lovely writers will be converging on Philadelphia for various high jinks this August.

Tuesday's Overlooked Film:

 Impromptu is a fave of mine: I've used it in the "Writers in Motion" course which examines films about the writing life and how it gets romanticized. But sometimes you really want that romanticism: if only life were as breezy and entertaining as this film. The dull slog of the writing life wouldn't make for a gripping film, but we do get hints of the work -- and its cost -- here. The iconic iconoclast George Sand, born Amantine Aurore Lucile Dupin and later becoming Baroness Dudevant, here played by the always engaging Judy Davis, struggles with her writing and her relationships. Because the film focuses on her relationship with Chopin (Grant), her trouser-wearing breakthrough and tempestuous relationship with poet Alfred de Musset (played with real brio by Patinkin) are already in the past. A big part of Alfred's contempt has to do with the amount she's able to write, which he dismisses as just "regurgitation" of her life. As someone who's been sneered at for writing "too much" I guess I feel a lot of sympathy for George.

The heart of the movie is the hilarious visit to the country by all the Parisian artists. Emma Thompson shines as the ambitious Duchess D'Antan who, marooned in the provinces, seeks to bring the glitterati to her. Along with Sand and Chopin, she imports painter Eugene Delacroix (played with laconic humor by Ralph Brown) and of course composer Franz Liszt (Julian Sands at his best) and his amour, the disgraced Countess D'Agoult. Peters is just perfect as the unhappy and envious Marie, who seeks to poison everyone else's happiness.

It's not great art, but it's charming fun. There's a little too much of the strong-woman-must-seek-weak-man motif (I'm sure some do, but most strong women I know like strong men), but for the most part Sarah Kernochan's script will keep you amused and make you envy the writer's life. If only!

Hop on over to Todd's blog for the full list!

Hanging with the Rom Writers

You've already seen the tiara; that was just one perk of Authors After Dark. My roomie Susan and I were both attending for the first time. We had planned to attend with our pal Debi, who knows everybody and is a real bon vivant, so we had some trepidation, being natural introverts. But Stella and Jackie made sure that everyone felt included and kept things rolling along wonderfully. There were panels on every topic both for readers and for writers; there was a great vendor room; there was a tattoo artist, there were pitch sessions with editors and agents. There were fabulous meals--yes, it is possible to get good hotel food (wow, that salmon!)--and lots of treats from the book, chocolate and fun food groups (i.e. parties and a dance). I got even more ideas about effective promotion, met a lot of terrific people and felt quite at home.

The biggest thing I came away with, however, was attitude. When you say "romance" I know what people think: dumpy middle aged women who console themselves with chaste and unrealistic fantasies. The truth is romance writers and readers, by and large, seem to be really happy people with optimistic attitudes. They believe in happy endings because they're living them, or have every expectation that they will make it happen. So many of the writers kept saying how they based their heroes/heroines on some aspect of their partners. Better yet, they talked about how supportive their relationships were, even if they didn't really understand the appeal of, say, sex with vampires or were-snakes (so forget about "chaste")!

Spending most of my time at academic or spec fic gatherings, it was a real delight to be surrounded by so much bubbly positivity. In the last couple of years I have come to realise how much your outlook affects the shape of your life. I'm not talking about a blithe ignorance of facts; I'm talking about choosing to be happy and to be completely alive now. Now: not lost in the regrets of the past, not hiding in the hopes for the future, but engaging fully and alertly with NOW. Terrible things happen, but you become resilient. You look for the opportunities. Most of all, you don't get mired in the endless cycle of "why me?" victimhood. My default position now is "I can cope. I have skills. I have resources. I have friends and people who love me. I will make the most of this."

Susan Hanniford Crowley

Stella Price in steampunk mode

Jackie Frank as Elizabeth Bennett

Leanna Renee Hieber explains the language of the Regency fan

The general signing begins: soon packed with eager readers with ARMLOADS of books! This is in addition to the loads of freebies, raffles and gift baskets that folks got.

A bit of debate about what this item was for...

Blinded by sparkliness!