Early-Bird Pricing on 2021 Conference Registration Ends June 21st!

Regency Fiction Writers
2021 Virtual Conference

A navy blue enamel pin in the shape of an open book, with gold lettering that reads 'Regency Fiction Writers' on the left page and '2021 Conference' below a gold silhouette of Jane Austen in a white oval on the right page.

A Brand New Day –
The Many Facets of Regency Fiction

July 22 – 24, 2021


The Board of Directors of Regency Fiction Writers hopes you will consider joining us for our Annual Conference and Soirée on July 22-24, 2021.

This year, we have expanded the conference to three days with twelve workshops focused on historical, marketing, craft, and, diversity topics. We are currently in the Early Bird Registration window until June 21, 2021 — RFW Members can register for $125 and Non-Members for $200.

We’d also appreciate it if you shared this information (click on any of the sharing icons below or on the main conference page!) with other writers of Regency fiction. We welcome any and all genres and sub-genres set in the extended Regency period of England (1780 to 1840).

Regency Fiction Writers’ three-day Virtual Conference will be live via Zoom and will be recorded for future use so you can take a break if you need to or come back and revisit a session or event at a later date. Please note that one session will not be recorded per presenter’s choice.

We’re disappointed that we won’t be meeting in person, but the most important issue is everyone’s safety and wellness and that of our families and friends. It will make the next in-person event all the sweeter!

We hope you’ll join us this July!
Early-Bird Pricing ends June 21st!
Full Registration will continue until July 15th!

The main 2021 Virtual Conference page has many more details and the link to registration form is at the very bottom!

If you have any problems or questions, please contact me at conferencechair [at] thebeaumonde [dot] com.

Best wishes,
Ann Chaney
Conference Chair
2021 Regency Fiction Writers Virtual Conference


Promotional Image for RFW 2021 Conference. Details are same as the page linked in the post: https://thebeaumonde.com/conference/.

2021 Conference Registration Now Open!

Regency Fiction Writers
2021 Virtual Conference

A navy blue enamel pin in the shape of an open book, with gold lettering that reads 'Regency Fiction Writers' on the left page and '2021 Conference' below a gold silhouette of Jane Austen in a white oval on the right page.

A Brand New Day –
The Many Facets of Regency Fiction

July 22 – 24, 2021


Regency Fiction Writers invites you to our 2021 Conference, July 22-24, 2021! Our three-day conference will be held live via Zoom.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on-line in July! We have an amazing lineup of keynote speakers, workshops, panels and a special one-on-one interview. You won’t want to miss a minute! The conference will be recorded so attendees only can revisit the sessions for at least 90 days.

This virtual experience includes three days of workshops, speeches and panels on topics including Regency-focused publishing industry, writing craft and historical details; a virtual meet & greet; The Beau Monde Annual Soirée with fashion show, door prizes and much more!

For more details and to register, visit our main Conference Page.

Please share this and any of our social media posts with your Regency fiction writing friends. As they say, the more the merrier!

If you have any problems or questions, please contact me at conferencechair [at ] thebeaumonde [dot] com.

Best wishes,
Ann Chaney
Conference Chair
2021 Regency Fiction Writers Virtual Conference


Promotional Image for RFW 2021 Conference. Details are same as the page linked in the post: https://thebeaumonde.com/conference/.

President’s Message & Update: Introductory Membership Fees End 12/31!

On behalf of the RFW Board of Directors and volunteers we wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season.

As of today, Regency Fiction Writers–The Beau Monde has 359 members and counting! It’s our promise that RFW-TBM will open and welcoming to all writers of Regency-set fiction. I like to think of it as we have an enormously long dining table with enough chairs for anyone who wants to pursue their dream of writing Regency-set fiction. We will always find another chair.

We are excited to share our well-rounded portfolio of resources, many accessible here on our website. Some are open to the public, but many are exclusive to members. If you haven’t already or know someone who would like to join our organization, annual memberships are just $25 USD until December 31st, 2020 and will increase on January 1st, 2021.
Continue reading “President’s Message & Update: Introductory Membership Fees End 12/31!”

Regency Research for Diversity by Louisa Cornell

The Beau Monde’s 2020 Virtual Writers Retreat in June introduced attendees to a brave new world – the world of coming together by way of technological wizardry. As Regency romance authors, there is another way we bring the world together—writing one happily-ever-after at the time. And that means happily-ever-after’s for everyone, because no matter the race, religion, creed, color, sexual orientation or disability they all lived and loved in England during the Regency Era.

Let me say that again. They all lived and loved during the Regency Era!

Which means for those of us who have never included diverse and/or marginalized characters in our Regency romances we have a whole new source of people to cast as heroes, heroines, family, friends, and yes, even villains. An exciting notion to say the least. Just think of the possibilities!

Continue reading “Regency Research for Diversity by Louisa Cornell”

2020 TBM Writers’ Retreat Update

It is with a heavy heart that the chapter board has canceled the in-person 2020 Beau Monde Writers’ Retreat scheduled for June 25-27, 2020 in Atlanta GA.

While we’re sure everyone is as disappointed as the board is at this news, the most important issue is the safety and wellness of each of us and our families and friends. We will meet again hopefully in 2021.

As of Tuesday, April 21, we began the process retreat registration refunds for everyone who registered via PayPal. We have asked the Marriott Event Manager to confirm if the hotel will cancel our room reservations or are we to call the Marriott to cancel our rooms individually. Once we have that answer to that question, those who registered to attend the retreat will receive an email with the details for cancelling your room reservations.

The A Feather to Fly With scholarships awarded for the retreat registration fee will be cancelled and the scholarship applications will be voided. If anyone has a question about the scholarship process, please contact Darlene Marshall, Membership Director and coordinator for A Feather to Fly With Scholarship Fund.

On a more positive note, Andrea Stein, our retreat chair and the board are discussing and researching our options for holding a virtual retreat the same weekend of June 25-27. Andrea and the board are excited about the possibilities and we hope you are too!

For more information on the retreat, please visit The Beau Monde’s 2020 Writers’ Retreat page.

The Beau Monde Chapter Statement

The Beau Monde Chapter of RWA held a vote of our members and sent the following message to the RWA Board. We are looking for answers and a way forward.

 

From: Ann Chaney, President of The Beau Monde Chapter
Vanessa Riley, President-Elect of The Beau Monde Chapter

The Board of The Beau Monde Chapter of RWA put a vote to our members to release a statement to RWA National Board.

A majority of chapter members voted and 89% of the votes representing 123 members voted in favor of sending the following letter:

January 8, 2020

The Beau Monde Board of Directors and 123 chapter members put forth the following provisions for consideration by the RWA Board.

The Beau Monde’s core value is to provide a safe and nurturing online resource.

We believe transparency should always be the top priority of any organization. In this, the RWA Board and Staff have failed.

We call for the immediate removal of Damon Suede from the office of President of RWA. This organization cannot begin to heal until he is removed from the RWA board.

The perception that the RWA National Board and Staff have engaged in unethical practices is unacceptable and foments distrust and frenetic in-fighting. How can we function as an organization with discord coloring every event, project, and program?

The Beau Monde just celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2019, and we are committed to seeing The Beau Monde flourish for another 25 years. The coming months will be difficult, but necessary if the chapter is to survive and grow.

We request the following actions be taken:
1. The immediate removal of Damon Suede from the office of President of RWA

2. A complete disclosure of ethics failures/findings regarding the RWA Board and Staff

3. A complete forensic audit of RWA financial records for the RWA Board and Staff

The Beau Monde believes, given the irregularities in the Ethics complaint process, and the need for a recall petition against the president, that RWA is in breach of its contractual duty to our chapter membership and has failed to exercise good faith in carrying out its duties.

Signed,
Ann Chaney, President of The Beau Monde Chapter
Vanessa Riley, President-Elect of The Beau Monde Chapter
The Beau Monde Board of Directors
123 Members of The BM

The Explorers Club by Clare Alexander

This post originally appeared on Clare Alexander‘s blog on March 15, 2017. Reposted with permission from the author.


The Explorers Club

When I was six years old or so, I wanted to be a naturalist. I pictured myself studying the world of Nature to learn her secrets. Nurtured by children’s picture books with lush watercolors of forests and seashores, this desire was fed later by the kinds of detailed illustrations of birds and plants that today become stylish wall art.

A local nature preserve within bicycling distance became one of my favorite (and secret) hangouts. I walked the familiar paths noticing how flowers and birds changed through the seasons. I poured over exhibits in the nature center to learn about turtles, frogs, snakes, and owls, mice, and voles.

Continue reading “The Explorers Club by Clare Alexander”

10 Facts about Marriage and Divorce in Historical England by Alina K. Field

This post originally appeared on Alina K. Field‘s blog on September 16, 2014. Reposted with permission from the author.


10 Facts about Marriage and Divorce in Historical England

I’m writing about marriage and divorce in England, but I must start earlier than the Georgian/Regency period because the chaos of the earlier years led to major reforms during the Georgian era.

GroegerPetersen

1. There were three basic ways to marry in early England: by voluntary consent before two witnesses, through clandestine marriages performed by clergymen without a license or the reading of banns, and by canon law, in a church, after banns had been read or a license obtained.

2. In 1753, Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act provided that only the third type of marriage was legal in England, though if a special license was obtained the marriage could be performed outside of a church.

3. Prior to 1753, bigamy was not uncommon. Birthright, by A. Roger Ekirch tells the true story of James Annesley who was kidnapped and sent off to America by a bigamous uncle to prevent James from inheriting.

"Jumping the Broom" was an expression for a marriage by consent

“Jumping the Broom” was an expression for a marriage by consent

4. The Marriage Act of 1753 did not apply in Scotland. Contract marriages “by consent” and clandestine marriages were still legal there.

The Old Marriage House at Coldstream

The Old Marriage House at Coldstream

5. Thus came the Gretna Green marriages. In Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, the heroine and her family are concerned that her sister Lydia is headed to Gretna Green with the villainous Mr. Wickham. Couples in a hurry to marry due to lack of parental consent, pregnancy, or in some cases kidnapping, traveled to a Scottish border town, Coldstream or the more famous Gretna Green to avoid the requirements of the Marriage Act of 1753. Upon crossing the border, they merely needed to find two Scottish citizens to witness their vows, or their “handfasting”.

500px-Wifesale

6. Legally ending an English marriage was far more difficult. Desertion, wife sales, which I’ve blogged about previously, and separation by private deed, did not render the partners able to legally remarry.

7. The ecclesiastical authorities could grant legal separations, or they could annul marriages that were not valid at the start, much in the way the Roman Catholic Church provides its members with annulments today, (though that process today has no impact on civil dissolution of marriages). Grounds for such ecclesiastical invalidation of a marriage could be: lack of consummation; or prohibited degrees of consanguinity between the bride and groom, for example, a man marrying his deceased wife’s sister; or bigamy.

8. Parliamentary divorce was extremely rare and very expensive. The process required legal action in a series of three courts: ecclesiastical, a common-law court, and a private bill in Parliament.

9. If a couple married in Scotland, they could more easily divorce in Scotland. If they had married in England, they could still divorce in Scotland but by the second decade of the nineteenth century the divorce would not be recognized in England.

483px-Henry_William_Paget_00

10. An exception to this is Henry Paget, the first Marquess of Anglesey. He began an affair with Wellington’s sister-in-law, and in 1810, both he and his lover managed to divorce their spouses in Scotland and marry each other, with no charges of bigamy or questions about the legitimacy of the children they had together. Paget is an interesting character who lost a leg at the Battle of Waterloo and lived on another thirty-nine years.

I’ve used handfasting in Rosalyn’s Ring, and a special license in Bella’s Band, and I have plans for the Scottish divorce to deal with a plot problem in my Work in Progress. I wont say any more—I have to see how this plays out for my characters first!

Do you have any interesting facts to add? I’d love to hear them.

Sources:
Broken Lives, Separation and Divorce in England 1660-1857 by Lawrence Stone
Wikipedia
All images, Wikimedia Commons


©2014 Alina K. Field

Find Alina K. Field online: website | facebook | twitter

A Romantic Tale and a Screwball Comedy by Lillian Marek

This post originally appeared on Lillian Marek’s blog Tales of Romance and Adventure on March 24, 2015. Reposted with permission from the author.


A Romantic Tale and a Screwball Comedy

In the early 19th century there were four Tree sisters, all of whom went on the stage. (If there were three of them, one could probably create a nice tongue twister, but there were four.) Ellen Tree, who married the noted actor Charles Kean, was the only one who remained in the theater, performing with her husband as Mrs. Charles Kean until his death.

The other three all retired from the stage when they married, and it is only Maria Tree who seems to have left much of an impression. In Our Actresses: or Glances at Stage Favourites Past and Present (1844), Mrs. C. Baron-Wilson comments on Maria’s “simplicity and blameless life … in contrast with many of her sisters in the profession.”

Mrs. Baron-Wilson notes that there was a romantic story attached to Maria’s courtship, but declines to give it. I don’t know why. It’s a charming story as recounted by Captain Gronow in his Reminiscences. Charming, and also very much in the Screwball Comedy tradition. Continue reading “A Romantic Tale and a Screwball Comedy by Lillian Marek”

Patrick Colquhoun, London magistrate by Sheri Cobb South

This post originally appeared on Sheri Cobb South‘s blog on January 6, 2014. Reposted with permission from the author.


Patrick Colquhoun, London magistrate

Painting of Patrick ColquhounSome of my favorite comments from readers regarding the John Pickett mystery series concern the father-son relationship of Pickett and his magistrate, and how much the reader enjoys it. In fact, of the questions I’m asked most frequently about the series (aside from the obvious ones about if, when, and/or how Pickett and Lady Fieldhurst will ever get together), several concern the character of Pickett’s magistrate, Patrick Colquhoun. Readers want to know how his name is pronounced, and why I chose to give a character such a difficult name. To answer the first question, according to Debrett’s Correct Form, the name is pronounced “Ca-HOON,” at least in the United Kingdom.

As for the second question, Continue reading “Patrick Colquhoun, London magistrate by Sheri Cobb South”

Historical Romance and the English Country Home by Anna Bradley

This post originally appeared on Anna Bradley‘s blog on November 23, 2014. Reposted with permission from the author.


Historical Romance and the English Country Home

Montisfont Abbey, Hampshire, England.

Montisfont Abbey, Hampshire, England

Rolling greens lawns, formal gardens and sultry conservatories—is it any wonder so many Regency romance novelists choose the English country house as the backdrop for their love story? There are few settings more romantic, and, given the strict rules of propriety between gentlemen and ladies in Regency England, even fewer where a hero and heroine can pursue their lusts and loves with such freedom.

It’s tempting to believe, Continue reading “Historical Romance and the English Country Home by Anna Bradley”

Regency London at MAPCO

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

If you have not yet taken the time to explore this web site, I highly recommend it. MAPCO : Map and Plan Collection Online is a treasure trove of historical maps of London and the British Isles. There are other maps available at the site, including some of various locales in Australia. Needless to say, my primary interest in the site is for the Regency-era maps of London and England which are presented in the MAPCO archives.

Continue reading “Regency London at MAPCO”

Assembly Rooms, May 2015

So many articles this month! I hope you find some of them to be of interest.

Gillray-very slippy weatherThe prodigiously talented Gillray: http://18thcand19thc.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/james-gillray-prince-of-caricaturists.html

The care and upbringing of foundlings: http://www.thehistoryoflondon.co.uk/thomas-coram-and-the-foundling-hospital/

A London walk: https://londonhistorians.wordpress.com/2015/03/30/footsteps-of-soane-ii/

Continue reading “Assembly Rooms, May 2015”

Caricatures — Tabloids of the Regency

Caricatures were extremely popular during the Regency era. Thousands were produced, ranging from mild criticism to biting satire, and included political, social, and personal commentary. They were printed from etchings or engravings and sold to whoever would pay for them.

Continue reading “Caricatures — Tabloids of the Regency”

Assembly Rooms – April 2015

Here’s the monthly assemblage of links of interest to lovers of the Regency era — everything from prisoners’ mementos to dishonest valets. Continue reading “Assembly Rooms – April 2015”

Lighting the House in the Regency by Regina Jeffers

Regina Jeffers is the author of a number of Regency romances and Austen-inspired novels. She was moved to write this article due to a power outage. There’s nothing like doing without electricity to give one a feel for what light–or the lack of it–was like in the Regency era.

~ * ~

Today, I have dealt with another power outage in my area, and I have privately cursed how dark my home is without the power of electricity. I have had to go without lights, TV, the internet, phone service, etc., and this modern-day “deprivation” has set me to thinking about the days of the Regency era when the almighty CANDLE ruled the home.

Continue reading “Lighting the House in the Regency by Regina Jeffers”

Being Scotch by Ann Lethbridge

Award-winning author Ann Lethbridge first published this blog when she started writing the Gilvrys of Dunross series. She graciously gave the Beau Monde permission to recycle it here.

Being Scotch

Did you think I had made a dreadful mistake? Or did you know I was talking about a drink, not a
person. I do of course mean Scotch whisky (and that too is the correct spelling).

Continue reading “Being Scotch by Ann Lethbridge”