The calendar may not yet mark winter, but I live in Maine, and I’m cold. It’s supposed to snow this week. Ugh. I’m in my red LL Bean 3-in-1 jacket, gloves in the pocket.

Years ago I had a silver fox fur jacket that I bought at a vintage clothing store in Greenwich Village, but I wouldn’t dream of buying a fur coat now—not only because of the money, but because of the ickiness of it all. Yes, I eat meat and wear leather shoes. But somehow the idea of wearing dead little woodland creatures has lost its appeal.

My husband tried to buy me a mink coat once. We lived in Connecticut, and every single woman in our circle of friends had one. He sat back in a plush chair in the store as a saleswoman brought out coat after coat. As glam as I felt in chocolate brown fur that matched my eyes (that’s the saleswoman talking), I couldn’t do it.

My mother had one of those hideous snapping mink stoles that scared the bejesus out of me when I was little. Full bodies. Beady little eyes. Jaws biting onto tails and paws. Shudder.

Yet I’ve dressed my historical heroines in fur-lined cloaks. They’ve had fur hats and tippets and muffs. There was no PETA then. Nobody was throwing buckets of red paint around in protest. Fur is fine in fiction. Historicals give you a little leeway in the political correctness department.

What have you run across reading that would be icky in real life but that’s just ducky to read about? How do you feel about fur?

No one in the world needs a mink coat but a mink. ~Murray Banks

Book giveaway! The utterly fabulous, desperately delightful Eloisa James guest blogs tomorrow, November 20 on Vauxhall Vixens! Be sure to visit!

We all know that the Internet has enhanced the romance community in a fabulous way. When I first started to write, I knew absolutely nothing about anything. I’d even stopped reading romances. So I gingerly clicked for advice, finding Jenna Peterson’s Passionate Pen, which is a great, generous place for aspiring writers. In the intervening years I’ve had online and e-mail contact with some of the best names in the business. It never ceases to amaze me that Eloisa James wrote back to me about flawed heroes or that Karen Hawkins complimented me on a snippet I wrote or that Christine Merrill appreciated a comment I left about her. She’s even sent me her latest, Miss Winthorpe’s Elopement. A couple of the things she said really resonated:

So if you’ve got an agent to love you, don’t worry too much on what’s ahead. Really, I think that editor rejections are much easier to take than criticism from the unpublished, who can be unmerciful. Editors tend to break things down into “will make money” or “won’t make money”. Good or bad doesn’t enter into it as often as it should. And nothing works for everyone, so don’t worry on that account. The stronger your voice, the more likely you are to get off the wall criticism. So the out of left field, sand-bagging can be written off as ‘not your reader’.

In another e-mail she writes:

In my experience, you are in the worst stage of the writing/publishing process. The spot right before you sell is a lot harder than anything, IMHO. And it feels like it goes on forever, while everyone around you gets a call.

There’s the learning curve, where you have to figure out how to write, and you suck but don’t know it, and get a bunch of rejections.

And there’s all the stuff that published people whine about, like reviews and sales numbers.

But welcome to limbo. When it feels crazy, remember, it’s not your fault.

Word to live by! I knew I was innocent, LOL! In my ivory tower, AKA writing room, I’m apt to forget writing is a business as well as an art.(*snort*…forgive my hubris…I know I’m not Jane Austen) In this iffy economy, there might not be an HEA for every writer. But I’m willing to keep trying and typing until “The End.”

Here’s hoping there’s an HEA for Vauxhall Vixen Tiffany Chalmers, who just signed with the Cornerstone Literary Agency! Yay, Tiff! Welcome to limbo!

And here’s a chance to give kudos to your real-life writer heroines who inspire you. What have you read lately that you love? Go read Christine Merrill’s books right this instant! I can’t wait to dive into Miss Winthorpe’s Elopement. But first—I am finally reading Outlander. I know, where have I been? Only 410 pages to go….