About Me

I have been enthusiastically reading historical romance novels for more than 30 years. In my late teens/early 20s, I started my first attempt at a novel of my own (an Arthurian romance), handwritten in a spiral notebook. I eventually burned that manuscript. In the early 1990s, I started a medieval romance. I still have that one somewhere, saved on a 5-1/4" floppy disk. It needs to be completely re-written anyway, so I'm not worried about retrieving my previous work.

By the 2000s, I fell in love with Regency-set historicals (not traditional Regencies) and started a new novel. I worked on it occasionally but only managed about 40,000 words until last Fall, when I suddenly found myself with more time on my hands. I really focused on that manuscript and finished it, then set about researching the industry. I am now a member of RWA and the WisRWA. My submission of my novel's first 2500 words came in second in the Historical Romance category of the WisRWA's 2014 FabFive contest, which is very encouraging.  I also entered the Virginia Romance Writers' 2014 Fool for Love contest (with a slightly longer excerpt), and once again came in second in the Historical Romance category. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll find an agent who likes my novel well enough to represent me.

I've always been a bit of a wallflower. Writing is one way to live vicariously, which explains much of its appeal. In our modern era of electronic social media and harried schedules, it is pleasant to escape to a world of sleeping late, Venetian "breakfasts" and soirees. I never attended my prom, but I did once crash a genuine debutante ball, so I have long been fascinated with observing the social rituals of high society.

While I would love to be a full-time author, I will be content if I can someday earn enough from writing to finance my travel habit. At the very least, I can justify spending money on UK travel by telling myself it is research that will make my future novels better (even if it isn't a tax-deductible business expense).

You can contact me at ElinorAspen@gmail.com