Finished and in

The full of my latest one went in yesterday, in a haze of champagne enduced euphoria.  I really like this manuscript and hopefully my editor will as well. It made me cry in places, even when editing which I suppose is good. I only hope everything is on the page, rather than in my head. There is the 90% rule -- 90% of the readers will only get 10% of the emotion I as a writer feel. ANd some times I only think things are  on the page...
Time will tell what my editor thinks and if she can see room for improvement.
I have started thinking about my next one because it keeps me from worrying about this one. And it is one I have been thinking about on and off. I know the heroine but the hero  only came to me last week. So as they are knocking hard on my door, it seems the most sensible thing to do.
Over the weekend, particularly on Friday, I was  ill with some flu thing. Beecham's Powder was the only thing that worked. I ended up sleeping most of Friday and Saturday. That sort of half-dozing, half-waking. But I did manage to get the full ms edited. Perhaps this is because I stayed off the Internet!
This week I need to catch up on a few critiques that I owe people and other admin. Housework should be done as well but right now I am going to do one of my Jillian Michaels dvds as it needs to be done.

Mrs Beeton lite

A new compilation of Mrs Beeton has been published. This one edited by Kay Fairfax focuses mainly on the advice given for the management of the Victorian household and as such gives a fascinating glimpse into late Victorian life. Mrs Beeton was first published in 1861.

I have long enjoyed rereading Mrs Beeton in the original for the wonderful tips on how to manage a Victorian house and servants. One of the joys of going to the Lit and Phil in Newcastle is to look at their copy of the Edwardian version of Mrs Beeton. I loved reading about what the servants should be doing. As it was an aspirational book, it gives detailed instructions.

However, it is a huge tome with lots of recipes and hints on how to host a dinner party, so for the writer of the Victorian period, this new book is probably of more use. Fairfax has taken a room by room approach.

I see from the papers, Judith Flanders Consuming Passions is now out in paperback. Again, this is an excellent book for anyone interested in the growth of consumerism in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Flanders' earlier book The Victorian House covers much of the same territory as Mrs Beeton's but it takes a wide view and uses a range of sources. Among other things, it has a detailed description of minutiae of mourning.

Personally I find the detail about how people lived and how society rules affected homes etc far more useful (and fascinating) than political history. My dh would disagree as he loves the cut and thrust of battles.