Christmas in July

A local radio station recently finished a “Christmas in July” weekend, where for 48 wonderful hours they played nothing but—you guessed it—Christmas music. It was done to benefit a local charity, but I enjoyed every second of it. I could almost smell the chestnuts roasting over the open fire and the aroma of pumpkin pie and coffee in the air!

Yes, I am one of “those” people. Ready for Christmas any place, any time. If I owned my own cable channel, I’d play nothing but Christmas-themed movies, 24/7. And since July is the month when I start thinking about important things like…. where am I going to put the Christmas tree this year? and what would great aunt so-and-so like for Christmas? It only seems fitting that we rolled out the announcement for our American Rose Christmas anthology in the month of July. If you haven’t heard about this yet, allow me to share the news.

The Wild Rose Press American Rose line is looking for short stories for a Christmas-themed anthology to be released in print in December, 2009.

Stories should be no longer than 25,000 words and have a theme that focuses on celebrating Christmas and/or the New Year. Stories must be American-set historical and take place before 1920. Submissions must be received by April 1, 2009. For more information contact queryus@thewildrosepress.com

I’m looking forward to seeing what our wonderful authors come up with for their stories! If this is as well received as I think it’s going to be, we could easily be doing anthologies for an American Rose Fourth of July, an American Rose Thanksgiving, an American Rose Valentine’s Day…. Oh the possibilities are endless!

Loving History in some Great Books

Hey Guys, I have recently been on a reading spree. These aren't romances but history books. I picked up a few of these and have enjoyed them so much. The first From Fields of Fire and Glory/Ron Gragg was actually a purchase for my son. (My son has been a Civil War enthusiast since sixth grade. I expect two grandsons named Grant and Lee, possibly a Jackson also :-) He also greatly admires Hannibal, I know skipping back in time a bit, and let's hope he doesn't name his children for great military commanders.) This book is incredible. Its almost like a scrapbook. It has little pockets all through it and in those pockets are replicas of Civil War era letters. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading these letters, gazing at the faces of the authors, and reading the history that led each of these men to fight in this conflict. Another book is Grandma Grace's Southern Favorites/Marty Davidson which is a compilation of 1800's era recipes it has both modern recipe and the recipe as it was originally written. It has recipes like "milkless milk" a concoction made with peanuts after the Civil War and it seems, pickled everything. The History of Underclothes, Willett and Cunnington is something I purchase in the spring--my husband just can't believe this is actually a book, and I wanted it. This chronicles the development of undergarmets from the medieval era through the 1930's. The last was one I just couldn't resist, Spirits of the Civil War, Troy Taylor. Any of these are interesting reading for those who enjoy either ghost/paranormal stories or historical war stories. Just wanted to share a few of these. Eve Mallary

July 29, 2008

Well somewhere on the West Coast thousands of romance writers are descending upon a hotel in San Francisco. Anyone else feeling left out? Instead of talking about the great workshops, support, and all around fun we're missing let's focus on what we're not missing:

No traveling across the country means no lost luggage, poor customer service, delayed or cancelled flights and all the headaches that come from traveling by plane.

You would have drove? I guess you haven't seen gas prices. EEK!

There isn't a hotel around that can hold that many women (yes I know there are some men but the majority are women) and keep them all happy. I'm all for not being a part of that crowd this year.

Let's talk about all those books! Yes getting the free books is great until you have to get them home. If you're traveling by air, its going to cost you a fortune. With airlines charging over $25 for extra luggage and overweight luggage, your free books just became pretty pricey. Shipping them won't cost much less unfortuantely.

Its great to be in all these cities like San Francisco, but honestly, the last two RWA conferences I attended could have been anywhere in the world. I never got to leave the hotel - not for one hour, not at all. Yes some of my friends went a day or two early to sightsee but who has money for another night at the hotel.

Why do all these conferences take place at hotels that cost so much? Yes I know they need to do it right and have it somewhere that can hold us, but I"m all for beer and pop and a $50 a night room.

Your critique partners are gone? Your writing buddies aren't on AIM this week? Good, maybe you can actually do something different like, you know, WRITE!

Not going to conference means you didn't have to make any decisions about which workshops to attend and which ones you could skip. No sitting through a boring one knowing the one you didn't choose was probably amazig.

No coming home after an exhausting week away (which your husband insists was a vacation) and having to do all the household chores that "somehow" never got done last week when you were on "vacation".

But my biggest reason for being glad I didn't go to Nationals this year is that I can save my money to go to next year's.

Anyone else?

Rhonda

More American history questions--Yay!

Just for fun, I'll post some American history questions for you to ponder. I happen to like the stories behind the presidents, so I'll focus mainly on them. Enjoy! -Corinne MacGregor

1)Everyone says George Washington was the first president of America, but who was the REAL first president? (Hint: it was under the Articles of Conferation and there were one year terms.)

2)A state used to be called Franklin. Which one?

3)Which president of the United States was the only one never to marry?

4)Which president was the only one to have two non-consecutive terms?

5)Name the president whose grandson also became a president.

How Well Do You Know Your American History?

Dust off those thinking caps, and see how much you remember from those school days. I have posted five questions about general American history. How do you stack up against some of the other roses in our garden? Although I can't give away any prizes, I will announce the names of the smartest rose(s) on the yahoo loop. Come now, give it a try.

1. What was the single bloodiest day of the Civil War?

2. How many countries did the British fight during the American War of Independence?

3. On what hill did the Battle of Bunker Hill take place?

4. What was the first state to secede from the Union?

5. Did the U.S. ever attack Canada?


You can post your answers right as a comment to the blog.

Don't forget, it is American Rose month. Consider entering our Love, American Style Contest. And the historical chat this month will be on July 17. We will discuss research for the American Rose novel.

Allison