Wit, humor, and a hero determined to risk everything to win the heart of the woman he loves... whether he is a Rakish British peer or a sexy US Army Ranger.
Someday My Duke Will Come qualified for the final round of the 2011 MARA Contest! And it was the only historical entry to make the top eight! To view a complete list of the finalists and learn more about the MARA contest, click here.
A big thank you to the first round judges and the contest coordinators! Now back to my writing . . .
Thanks to the fabulous and talented team at Waxcreative, the new look is in place! I’ve also added excerpts from my contemporary works and one from my latest Regency romance, Someday My Duke Will Come. Thoughts and comments are always appreciated. And I’ll be back to blogging monthly if not more soon!
Over the past year, both my writing and my life have seen a number of changes. Becoming a mom changed my life in more ways than I can count (most of them wonderful, apart from the lack of sleep). It took me a few months, but I finally found time to write and care for my son. Much to my surprise, what I wished to write changed. I have always loved reading contemporaries, but before this year had not planned on writing a modern day love story. But it turns out I have lots of Army Ranger stories buzzing about my post-baby brain! And with this new direction, my amazing, always-insightful web design team at Waxcreative encouraged me to think about website. I am still working out what my new look should be, so stay tuned for more!
After a largely sleepless week with my sick 11-month-old son, I needed a break–a few hours respite from the cute, I-refuse-to-nap-unless-you-hold me baby who I love more than anything in the world. I needed sleep too, but some time to myself was seeming more and more important after a night when my son decided to start his day at 3:30 am. Living in New York City, I could not realistically visit a warm, tropical beach for a few hours while my husband took my son out for an adventure. But I could read.
I selected Vicky Dreiling’s HOW TO MARRY A DUKE and within a few pages I was hooked. HOW TO MARRY A DUKE can best be described as Regency version of the popular T.V. show The Bachelor. (See blurb from Vicky Dreiling’s website for more info.) Now, I’m not a reviewer. But I can say that reading Vicky Dreiling’s debut was like a vacation at a five-star beach resort. I would trade drinks with little umbrellas and sand beneath my toes for this fun, sexy read any day of the week. If you haven’t picked up a copy go online now or run to your local store. And be prepared to keep reading once you start. You won’t be able to put this one down!
From www.vickydreiling.com:
Tristan, the Duke of Shelbourne is a man with a mission: find a wife he can tolerate as long as they both shall live. No love is necessary—nor desired. But how to choose amid a dizzying array of wealthy-yet-witless candidates? Hire London’s infamously prim and proper matchmaker. Then pretend she’s not the most captivating woman he’s ever met . . .
Helping a devilish Duke create a contest to pick his perfect mate is the kind of challenge Tessa Mansfield relishes. Her methods may be scandalous, but she’s determined to find the notorious bachelor more than a wife—she’ll bring him true love. Yet when Tessa watches the women vie for the Duke’s affections, she longs to win his heart herself. And after a stolen kiss confirms Tristan’s desire, Tessa knows she has broken a matchmaker’s number one rule: never fall in love with the groom.
As an aspiring writer, I admit I have caught contest fever from time to time. This fall, I entered a few, won one, and received two requests for full manuscripts. But even when I did not win, I felt it was money and time well spent because each contest judge returned my pages with their comments and thoughts on how to improve my writing. I dare say I was grateful and eager to return the favor. So what did I do? I volunteered to coordinate the 2011 Royal Ascot.
If you read or write Regencies, or if you love horse racing, you might be familiar with the Royal Ascot. But you might be surprised to learn it is more than race between thoroughbreds. The Royal Ascot is a contest devoted to the promotion of Regency Romances by encouraging the development of authors who set stories in the Regency Period. And this year, the contest will be different compared to past years.
What is new for the 2011 Royal Ascot?
* Categories will only be used for first round judging. Six finalists will be determined based on highest score.
* Trained first round judges.
* Six finalists will be sent to a panel of final round judges, all agents and editors. The final round judges will rank each of the six finalists from 1st place to 6th place. The total of all the rankings will be added and the lowest ranking entry will win the $100 grand prize and a certificate. No other rankings will be given, however each finalist will receive a $25 cash prize and a certificate. The entrants will receive their final score, but information regarding which judges gave which score will not be given.
* Entry length limited to 7,000 words (determined by computer word count) from the beginning of the manuscript. An optional 500 word synopsis may be included.
* Final Round Judges Panel include:
o Selina McLemore, Senior Editor at Grand Central Publishing
o Jessica Faust, Bookends Literary Agency
o Kevan Lyon, Marshall Lyon Literary Agency
o Elizabeth Bistrow, Editor at NAL
o Deborah Nemeth, Editor at Carina Press
o Rebecca Strauss, McIntosh & Otis Literary Agency
So if you write Regencies (broadly defined as within the United Kingdom between 1780 and 1840), this is the contest to enter. The deadline is April 1st and finalists will be announced the first week in May. If you do not write stories at least partially set in this time period, please help us spread the word to your friends, critique partners and writer’s groups.
For more information, please visit: http://www.thebeaumonde.com/royalascot/.
Paty Jager! Congratulations! You’ve won a signed copy of Prelude to a Scandal.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by and read Delilah’s interview. If you did not win, I hope you visit your favorite book retailer and pick up a copy of Prelude to a Scandal today!
Happy New Year! I’m thrilled to start off 2011 with a guest: the fabulous and talented Delilah Marvelle. Welcome Delilah!
First, please tell us a little about your recent release Prelude to a Scandal.
Prelude to a Scandal is going to poke a few people in the heart as well as in the butt….LOL. People will either love it or hate it because of the subject matter. Every book, I feel, is a mirror that reflects a person’s own thoughts and emotions and draws on those thoughts and emotions. Depending on the person, the subject matter might freak them out. Which is what I love to do. *wink* The premise is about getting as personal with a character as possible, even if those personal things are considered taboo.
Having read your interview in the Romantic Times (cover story!), I understand your hero struggles with a sex addition. What led you to write about a hero with a sex addiction?
After reading a ton of historical memoirs (such as Casanova and My Secret Life), I knew these men had “issues” with sex. In my mind, these issues are the untold stories during a time when addiction wasn’t understood. Even today, very few people understand what sexual addiction really is and what it entails. Mind you, I write romance, so I had to sugar coat it for the reader, but I can assure you, I made sure that the sugar coating was very, VERY thin…
I understand you had a long road to publication. What motivated you to keep writing and submitting?
It took me 11 years, over 200 rejections and over 40 manuscripts before I was published. What kept me writing and motivated? I would say quite a few things. My stubbornness, the support of my family, friends and writing chapter mates and above all, the belief that I had a story to tell even when the world kept telling me I didn’t…
What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Every writing journey is going to be different. One person will publish after only a year of submitting. For others it will take 17 years, or in my case, 11 years. What a lot of unpublished authors don’t realize is this: you will always be learning the art of the craft and the more time you have to understand and learn the craft, the more prepared you’ll be when you get THE CALL. Although I moaned and complained all 11 of those years about not being published, looking back…I thank GOD I wasn’t published earlier. It took me 11 years to truly understand myself as a writer and what the business expects from me as a writer. So my advice is this. Use the time before your publication to understand what it is you want from the writing business and what it is you want from yourself as a writer before you get that contract.
Do you keep to a schedule when you are on deadline? Please tell us about an average day in your life as a writer.
I write 7 days a week when I’m under deadline and depending on my deadline, as many as 8-12 hours a day during those 7 days a week. My writing process is freaky. I become a different person and my poor family has to live with it. The truth is, I can’t have anyone in the house when I write. Even if someone were to lock himself or herself in the closet and hold their breath, I still wouldn’t be able to write. It’s hard to explain but I feel like their energy is leaking into my ability to think. I have a hard time transporting myself into a different era when the modern world is breathing on my neck. Once I’m able to get everyone out of the house, I sit at my desk surrounded by piles and piles of research books and write. As I write, I verbalize my words aloud in a British accent. It’s the actress in me. It makes the characters and the setting feel real when I read it aloud as I’m writing.
Prelude to a Scandal is the first book in a trilogy. What can we expect from the second and third installments?
All three books are linked, not by characters, but by an object. People will quickly figure out what that object is and by the third book will understand why that particular object….
So the second book, Once Upon a Scandal, is a very twisted version of second chance love and Cinderella combined. Only our Cinderella is actually the hero. I wanted to create a hero that believes in all the things that women usually are jabbed at for believing. He’s the greatest romantic ever to have been born. Of course, it blinds him and puts him into a situation that causes him to become a servant of a different sort…
The third book, The Perfect Scandal, is about an aristocratic gentleman who thinks he’s a freak (and I’ll leave you to find out why…). This story is Anastasia-like in feel and delves into my favorite history: A history that hasn’t been touched by any American historical romance writers—meaning, the history of Poland in 1829. Although I love all three books, The Perfect Scandal is by far my favorite because I’m Polish and I always wanted to write a Polish heroine that showcased Polish history. I am thrilled that I was finally able to do it and that HQN let me do it, despite it falling outside “historical romance” norm.
Thanks for stopping by Delilah!
If you would like to win a signed copy of Prelude to Scandal, please leave a comment. One lucky winner will be drawn at random on Tuesday, January 4th. And in you live in New York City, stop by Lady Jane’s Salon on Monday January 3rd to hear Delilah read from Prelude to a Scandal. Madame X from 7pm-9pm.
About Prelude to a Scandal 
Having been raised in the jungles of South Africa, assisting her father in the study of mammal copulation, Lady Justine Fedora Palmer sweeps back into London to embark upon her coming out. She quickly discovers animals are far more civilized than the men surrounding her. When her father’s observations are made public, proving buggery is natural to the animal kingdom, all of London is in a huffing outrage, including His Royal Majesty. Her father is imprisoned and slapped with outrageous penalty fees they simply cannot pay. Lady Justine becomes more than willing to trade her good name and her place in London’s gossip hungry society to secure her father’s release. There is only one person she knows she can trust: her father’s patron, the Duke of Bradford. A dashing libertine, yes, but one she passionately adores for his unwavering kindness, wit, humor, and a willingness to support her father’s studies even as everyone else had laughed her father off. To her astonishment, the Duke of Bradford is not the same man. His newly marred face hides a scandal that is about to test them both…
Coming Soon from Delilah Marvelle
It’s time to celebrate! Flirting with Scandal won first place in the Heartland Romance chapter’s Show Me the Spark! contest. The official list of winners are posted on their website. Many thanks to both the first and final round judges!
While I awaiting the results of the Show Me the Spark! Contest (Flirting with Scandal was selected as a finalist), I learned that my contemporary series manuscript, Rough Riding Ranger received an Honorable Mention in the MARA Contest!
When did I start writing contemporaries? After I started reading them! Fellow RWA NYC author Hope Tarr introduced me to the Harlequin Blaze line. I read one and then another and another. Soon I was reading titles from all the Harlequin lines. And then one day, an idea for a romance between an Army Ranger and a horse instructor popped into my head. I started writing. On a whim, I submitted the initial chapters and low and behold the judges loved it!
More soon on the Show Me the Spark! Contest. But for now, I’m celebrating! Now back to the baby, who just discovered his toes.
Sometime between midnight feedings and dirty diapers, I decided to take a chance and enter Flirting with Scandal in the Heartland Romance Author’s 2010 Show Me The Spark! Contest. I felt my first few chapters had that special something but would the judges? A month slipped by, and then on Saturday morning when my little one woke me up at 3am, I checked my email and learned that I was a finalist! I’m thrilled to say the least and have my fingers crossed for the final round.
He’s waking up from his first morning nap. Time to set aside my writing hat for my mommy hat!