tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:45:41 +0000"Ce qu'on peut voir au soleil est toujours moins intéressant que ce qui se passe derrière une vitre. Dans ce trou noir ou lumineux vit la vie, rêve la vie, souffre la vie." - Charles Baudelairehttp://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)Blogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-2364897620831339521Sat, 10 Mar 2007 20:34:00 +00002007-03-10T14:31:02.183-07:00Poor Madame X.In the last few months the damsel has been langishing, neglected and all but forgotten in the veritable oubliette of my computer.She's traveled far -- across empires -- from Paris to St. Petersburg. But she has yet to meet her hero, although naught but a mere door now separates them.Poor, poor Madame X. Although in reality she's a madamoiselle, but we'll get to that later. . .I've http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2007/03/madame-x.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-4782798597683546294Mon, 15 Jan 2007 17:04:00 +00002007-01-15T10:35:24.570-07:00I tend to be somewhat maudlin at new year's, ruing the fact that I haven't accomplished a slew of things I'd hoped to by the arbitrary date of 31 December and that sort of thing, but the most recent was an exception. I instead made an effort to focus on the positive and managed to see in midnight with a bucket of champers and nary a tear.Imagine my disappointment, then, when, four days into 2007,http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2007/01/adding-illness-to-injury.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-6407204446018228279Mon, 18 Dec 2006 22:45:00 +00002006-12-18T15:46:14.069-07:00Do you ever reimagine past experiences you have had, indulge in a creatively-driven form of "redecision therapy" as you compose a story?To be more specific, have you ever passed up an opportunity and then built a story around the "what if" of having seized that opportunity? What if you had been less afraid? What if you'd expressed how you really felt?What if you had allowed your heart to rule http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/12/reimagining-past_18.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-8556636964655100384Thu, 14 Dec 2006 04:27:00 +00002006-12-13T22:27:43.709-07:00Well, I've been tagged, so here goes. . .!Four jobs I've had:Sales associate at Neiman MarcusChanged out watch bands at Fossil WatchesPA to head of a development NGOMarketing ConsultantFour favorite foods:Sauteed wild mushroomsPommes fritesTom Ka GaiAnything involving caramelFour movies I could watch over and over:"The Thin Man""Bleu""Diva""L.A. Confidential"Four TV shows I enjoy:"The Office" (UKhttp://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/12/im-it.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-2146157445252828490Thu, 07 Dec 2006 03:13:00 +00002006-12-06T21:11:31.895-07:00Yum. http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/12/daniel-craig.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-2503786019595257365Wed, 06 Dec 2006 19:53:00 +00002006-12-06T19:22:36.423-07:00Santa Cleopatra! I won an award. Don't remember the last time I won something, and I'm not entirely sure I've won anything for writing since I was in high school...In any case, "Good Godwin!", my AFL submission from round 3, has been awarded "The Comeuppance: Best portrayal of someone getting what they deserved" in the Avon FanLit Fan's Choice Awards.I must say I'm rather pleased, particularly ashttp://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/12/avon-fanlit-fans-choice-awards.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-116526932381469331Mon, 04 Dec 2006 21:33:00 +00002006-12-04T15:40:00.750-07:00MarketingYou're a writer. Even if no one you know knows it. And if you're attending conferences held by organizations such as the RWA, odds are you have ambition.Which is why you need business cards.They needn't be anything grand -- they could even have been spat out by one of those machines you find at the supermarket -- but they should at the very least contain the following information:Your nameNom(s) http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/12/business-cards.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-116501390805217858Fri, 01 Dec 2006 22:16:00 +00002006-12-01T16:01:39.013-07:00MarketingAn article entitled "When Marketers See Double" appeared in the Wall Street Journal the other day regarding the use of stock photography by major corporations in advertising spreads, on web pages and in other marketing materials. It seems that in order to maximize their bottom line, these banks, retailers and the like are purchasing stock photos for as little as $1 each rather than paying for http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/12/eye-candy-for-your-website.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-116485446224477293Thu, 30 Nov 2006 01:47:00 +00002006-11-29T20:41:19.733-07:00MarketingApologies for the delay in posting -- my life has been a bit mad of late.I promised you a brief primer of sorts on inexpensive -- sometimes free -- marketing tools for the aspiring romance writer*, and to start I've chosen Basecamp.Basecamp is not, strictly speaking, a marketing tool. It is, rather, one for collaboration. However, it is extremely useful for writers as, among other things, it http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/11/basic-marketing-tools.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-116485081323503858Thu, 30 Nov 2006 00:56:00 +00002006-11-29T18:46:15.723-07:00Romance WritingWhile reading my favorite newspaper, The Guardian (UK), online, I came across an article on the Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction award. It is, inevitably, titled "Stiff competition on Bad Sex shortlist".The purpose of the award is "to draw attention to the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it."What a divinehttp://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/11/bad-sex.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-116319117176437820Fri, 10 Nov 2006 20:36:00 +00002006-11-10T13:59:51.036-07:00MarketingAvon FanLitI'm adding links to the blogs/websites of fellow AFL authors to my site and wanted to send out a general invitation to anyone who would like to be listed. Simply reply to this post and I will slot you right in!On another note, some time this next week I'll be posting on a variety of marketing tools that might be of use to aspiring authors. Links to them are to be found in the sidebar. Check back http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/11/calling-all-avon-fanlit-authors.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-116317719346298983Fri, 10 Nov 2006 16:30:00 +00002006-11-10T10:16:58.813-07:00Romance WritingRomance Writing ResourcesMy freshman year at university I took a seminar taught by a professor from Nuffield College, Oxford.His preference, much to his American students' consternation, was to set essays (papers) for us which we submitted on a weekly basis. Then, to continue our immersion in the Oxbridge style of teaching, we would meet with him one-on-one for a tutorial in his office during which we would discuss the http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/11/bluestocking-alert.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-116252952720127099Fri, 03 Nov 2006 04:37:00 +00002006-11-10T09:30:40.360-07:00Romance WritingI have a problem. It's not an unusual one, nor is it insurmountable, but it is a problem nonetheless.I don't like my heroine. She's not evil or conniving -- if only she were! No, she is, instead, boring. Not only that, she's passive. I'm afraid I may have to abandon her. Or at least send her away for a while so I can make a fresh start. I haven't yet decided. I've considered making Lampton, http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/11/nano-woe.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-116163180060008209Mon, 23 Oct 2006 19:02:00 +00002006-11-02T19:25:53.820-07:00Romance WritingAvon FanLitSubmissions for the sixth and final chapter of the Avon FanLit novella close in one hour.After not having the time to write a chapter 5 submission last weekend, I did really make the effort to finish something for this last round, but it was not to be.Everything I wrote, to quote "Gosford Park," bored me "to sobs." After tying up the final explicit loose end, I was completely spent.I couldn't http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/10/avon-fanlit-fin.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-116127253722440884Thu, 19 Oct 2006 15:40:00 +00002006-11-02T19:39:19.943-07:00Romance WritingAvon FanLit ...fordshire A surprise visit from a bishop sends Patience heading for the hills (or rather, fens) with Damien in hot and bothered pursuit. Will he succeed in convincing her not to http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/10/off-to-bed-afl-round-4.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-116127234681373252Thu, 19 Oct 2006 15:34:00 +00002006-11-02T20:22:15.853-07:00Romance WritingAvon FanLit ...I cannot count the ways A perfect storm is brewing. While Patience has decided to put an end to her ruse, Damien's has yet to begin. A tempestuous trip to the park sees their http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-do-i-love-thee-afl-round-4.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-116127197949486071Thu, 19 Oct 2006 15:29:00 +00002006-11-02T20:16:24.460-07:00Romance WritingAvon FanLit In which Damien proposes a rather radical arrangement... A lesson in seduction goes dramatically awry, leaving Patience to wonder if she might never lay claim to Damien's heart. http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/10/good-godwin-afl-round-3.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-116123085652713846Thu, 19 Oct 2006 04:04:00 +00002006-11-02T20:17:08.416-07:00Romance WritingAvon FanLit Or how Damien nearly disgraced himself twice in one day. An impromptu dip in the Serpentine ends on a soggy note – from Penelope. It seems her mistress has devised a pair of http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/10/lady-and-newt-afl-round-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-116123022426118047Thu, 19 Oct 2006 03:53:00 +00002006-11-02T20:17:51.470-07:00Romance WritingAvon FanLit She was devoted to another, but even Coulter had to admit, this rival was far beyond his ken. He was to meet her in the church where they married; she was to ask him for an annulment. But her reasons were obscure. She loved him once, she avowed, but was there now another whose http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/10/patience-and-her-virtue-afl-round-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-116114109763183879Wed, 18 Oct 2006 03:08:00 +00002006-11-02T20:25:39.226-07:00Romance WritingAvon FanLit He seized her, spirited her away. Might her abductor become an ally, and her ally her one true love? Her brother is dead, and those responsible move freely amongst the ton. Disguised as a countess, Arabella aims to expose them; but Lord Coulter, too, seeks to unmask a killer. She http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/10/miss-apprehension-afl-round-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-116114077400796337Wed, 18 Oct 2006 02:39:00 +00002006-11-02T20:26:32.160-07:00Romance WritingAvon FanLit He might come to know her secrets, but could he come to know her heart? The Earl Fraser had died with neither wife nor heir, of that Lord Coulter was certain. But a dance with a http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/10/by-any-other-name-afl-round-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36146987.post-116105795434802688Tue, 17 Oct 2006 02:52:00 +00002006-11-02T20:32:58.116-07:00"Ce qu'on peut voir au soleil est toujours moins intéressant que ce qui se passe derrière une vitre. Dans ce trou noir ou lumineux vit la vie, rêve la vie, souffre la vie."- Charles BaudelaireA window on my writings and my thoughts. The arts, books, film, and the like -- all will be represented here.The first few postings will be of chapters I submitted to the Avon FanLit contest under the name http://rebeccadecourcy.blogspot.com/2006/10/what-is-to-come.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Rebecca de Courcy)0