Marilyn Clay Author Bio

Soon after I joined Romance Writers of America, the organization held a nation-wide contest among its members to submit a design for their new award statuette to be presented each year at the national conference for Best Book in each of a number of categories. Being a professional commercial artist at the time, I could not resist submitting a drawing of what I thought the award should look like. Imagine my thrill when I received a phone call telling me that the RWA Board had unanimously chosen my drawing for the new RITA Award! At the RWA Conference that year in San Francisco, I was presented with the very first RITA Award to ever be given. I was thrilled!

Before I sold my first Regency romance novel, I, like many aspiring Regency authors, lamented the fact that there was not very much information available about the short nine-year period in English history known as the Regency. So . . . I decided to do something about it and soon, The Regency Plume Newsletter was born. Each issue contained documented and well-researched articles on every aspect of life during this flamboyant period. There were so many colorful characters, things, and events to write about: Prinny, of course; Wellington and the Napoleonic wars, Horatio Nelson and his infamous love affair with Emma Hamilton, Beau Brummell and his spat with the Prince Regent, Sally Jersey, and all the other Almack patronesses. The list went on and on. Articles were written primarily by multi-published Regency romance authors and Regency-era historians.

The Regency Plume Newsletter was well received and I soon had subscribers from all over the world. I published The Regency Plume for sixteen years and believe me, I stayed busy keeping up with all my subscribers while also writing my own Regency romance novels. Six issues per year means I published 96 issues! I recently complied the Back-issue Article Index into an e-book and it's available on Amazon. But you can get it for Free just by sending me an e-mail and requesting it. The book contains a sample article that appeared in an issue of The Regency Plume, plus information on all the other great Regency Research Material, like reproduction historical maps, The London Folio, The Bath Folio, The Military Folio, and three different Regency-era furniture books, that are still available for purchase through The Regency Plume website. I am most grateful to all the wonderful Regency writers who supported me throughout that sixteen year period. I could not have done it without you!

Visit The Regency Plume Website Here

As I mentioned, before I became a serious writer, I enjoyed a successful career as a commercial artist. The page on this website titled Marilyn's Artwork shows a few examples of the sort of artwork I enjoyed doing. I spent many weekends exhibiting (and selling) limited edition prints of my western art, and my watercolor paintings and thoroughly enjoyed talking to all the interesting people who stopped by to chat. During my art career, I became a fashion illustrator and for a time was Creative Director for a fashion magazine in Dallas and got to attend many glamorous runway fashion shows. During my transition from artist to writer, I served as University Editor for the University of Texas at Dallas and enjoyed campus atmosphere all over again, without being a student. I've retired from all that now, and get to spend as much time as I want at my computer writingI love cats and have written two books about two of my sweetest felines, Daisy and Sailor, who became a character in one of my Regency novels. He played himself and his picture is even on the cover of the actual print book!

I love hearing from readers and writers, so feel free to contact me anytime!

Contact Marilyn