Rosemary Morris shares some of her routine and process of writing her historical romance novels

Click here for More of Rosemary's Books and Buy Links

Some people imagine that novelists either live in an ivory tower or in a garret a slave to the muse. In fact, all the authors I know are dedicated to writing but neither they nor I are cut off from the world.

On the 29^th of August, I woke at 6 a.m. very relaxed because I finished writing, revising and editing Wednesday’s Child, Heroines Born on Different Days of the Week, Book Four.

Until 8.30 I read and replied to e-mails instead of keeping to my usual routine of writing from 6 a.m. until 10 a.m. with time out for breakfast.

Rob, my gardener arrived at 9.30 a.m. and weeded my mini-orchard of plums, pears, four apple trees and a cooking apple tree. We collected the windfalls, and picked six pounds of ripe apples and two pounds of plums.

While working in my organic garden in which I grow herbs, soft fruit, stone fruit and vegetables, I experience a connection with past times when people ate local produce in season. Delicious produce uncontaminated by artificial fertilisers and pesticides.

At 10 a.m. my seven-year-old granddaughter arrived to spend the day with me. She ate two apples, played on her i pad next then with playdough. I sorted out the apples, kept some to eat and made juice with the rest. Afterwards, I picked the last of the French Beans and prepared them for the freezer.

At eleven o’clock the three of us had a break. I made hot chocolate for my granddaughter and tea for myself and Rob, who shares my interest in history and is also a member of Watford Writers, which meets on Monday evenings.

To recreate the past in my novels, I read historical non-fiction which often gives me ideas for my novels. Rob and I discussed my recent purchase is Set in A Silver Sea, Volume One of Arthur Bryant’s History of the British People. When Rob left I gave him some plums, apples, tomatoes and a large courgette, as well as homemade creamy leek and courgette homemade soup from the from the freezer.

For lunch, we ate sandwiches that included home grown cucumber and tomatoes while sitting outside in the garden. Afterwards we planted her broad bean plants. The two she sowed at school looked dead but she told her teacher that her green-fingered grandmother would save them.

She went home at 2 o’clock so I put my feet up, caught up with more e-mails for an hour, read a chapter of The Silver Sea, then watched an episode of Borgia on Netflix. At five o’clock I made a spinach, peas and curd cheese curry and chapattis for my granddaughter, her fifteen and twelve-year old brothers. It’s one of their favourite meals. (I included the recipe at the end of my novel Far Beyond Rubies set in Queen Anne Stuart’s reign, 1702-1714.) For dessert, we enjoyed mangos.

In the evening, I dealt with some writing related business matters, revised, and edited Chapter One of my new novel, Thursday’s Child, Heroines Born on Different Days of the Week, Book Five. On Monday evening, I shall read it at Watford Writers and receive constructive comments from members.

Almost time for bed, I watched another episode of Borgia on Netflix. It’s more sexually explicit than anything I usually read or watch but the history is interesting.

So, this typical autumn day in my life proves I neither live in an ivory tower nor a garret.

Monday’s Child by Rosemary Morris

All my historical novels have strong themes with which modern day readers can identify with. In Monday’s Child, the tension mounts as war with France becomes inevitable.

At heart I am a historian, so Monday’s Child is rich in historical detail.

Back Cover

In March 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile in Elba. In Brussels, eighteen-year-old Helen Whitley, is aware that war with France between Britain and her allies, is inevitable. A talented artist, Helen is aware of the anxiety and fear underlying the balls, breakfasts, parties, picnics and soirees - held by the British. In an attic, she paints scenes in which she captures the emotions of daily life during the hundred days before the Battle of Waterloo.

While Helen lives with her sister and wealthy brother-in-law, Major Tarrant, she waits for Major, Viscount Langley, to arrive in Brussels and ask her to be his wife. Langley, who serves in the same regiment as Tarrant, is her brother-in-law’s closest friend, therefore she assumes her sister and Tarrant will be delighted by the match.

She is grateful to her brother-in-law for including her in his household. Nevertheless, Helen regrets being dependent on his generosity, so she’s looking forward to being mistress of Langley’s heart and home.

Before Langley leaves England to join his regiment, he visits his ancestral home, to inform his parents that he intends to marry Helen. Yet, when he arrives in Brussels to join his regiment, he does not propose marriage to Helen, and her pride does not allow her to reveal the misery caused by Langley’s rejection

Review by Juliet Waldron

Regency Addicts Rejoice. Everything for the Regency addict here, with a heroine of great beauty but small fortune, all the strategies required for keeping one's place in the "ton," and plenty of interfering relatives. Taking it a little further afield than Jane Austen did, this story is set in 1815 Brussels where all the eligible young men are soldiers in Wellington's army, awaiting an attack by Napoleon. Despite the wartime tension, there's still plenty of time for balls, visiting, and morning gallops. The author knows her stuff--from clothes, to the many strictures of proper behaviour, which seem to us today as limiting as the ladies' underwear. Not only the detail but dialogue too shows a lively understanding of the period; I didn't see a single teacup laid out of place. While this book is a Regency delight, it's no fantasy confection. Class differences and gender relationships are portrayed realistically, sometimes jarringly so, with no candy-coating. I was particularly pleased by the marital choice made by Monday's Child--aptly named "Helen." It left me with no doubt about her HEA.

Novels by Rosemary Morris available from your online bookstores and in ebook and print

Medieval.

 Yvonne, Lady of Cassio.

18^th Century

 Tangled Love, Far Beyond Rubies, The Captain and The Countess

Regency

 False Pretences, Sunday’s Child, Monday’s Child, Tuesday’s Child (Heroines Born on Different Days of the Week.

www.rosemarymorris.co.uk

http://bookswelove.net/authors/morris-rosemary

http://www.bookswelove.net/authors/morris-rosemary-romance-historical-uk/