Leenie Brown fell in love with Jane Austen's works when she first read Sense and Sensibility followed immediately by Pride and Prejudice in her early teens. As the second of five daughters and an avid reader, she has always loved to see where her imagination takes her and to play with and write about the characters she meets along the way. In 2013, these two loves collided when she stumbled upon the world of Jane Austen Fan Fiction. A year later, in 2014, she began writing her own Austen-inspired stories and began publishing them in 2015. Leenie lives in Nova Scotia, Canada with her two teenage boys and her very own Mr. Brown (a wonderful mix of all the best of Darcy, Bingley and Edmund with healthy dose of the teasing Mr. Tillney and just a dash of the scolding Mr. Knightley).
This week as I was writing, I shared this video with my Dash of Darcy Readers group on Facebook and told them that it might just be the song I shared on Monday on my blog. And here it is. 🙂 Along with this video, I shared the following line from what I had been writing that evening:
“I could never forget you, even without these things,” he said to Anne. “You will always be in my heart. I may not have loved you as well as I should have, but I did love you.” [Doesn’t it go well with the song?]
I’m not sharing the scene in which you will find that line today. Instead, I am sharing the scene that follows immediately after it. However, that scene starts on a similar melancholy note. So, the song choice still seems to fit well.
But first, I must update you on the release of Enticing Miss Darcy. I have just uploaded the ebook files and set a release date of March 15, 2018. I made the decision to push the date out a week because there are some things I would like to do before the book releases and rushing it just to hit the deadline I had set was not going to be conducive to getting those things done. [And my back is doing better. It’s not 100% yet, but it is much improved. I have also figured out how to get work things done with some modifications. 😉 Now, I ‘m just trying to play catch up.]
Today’s musical selection is a cover of John Legend’s “All of Me” which I added to my Music to Write By playlists this week both on Spotify and YouTube. I’ve had one of those two playlists running this week as I was writing, and I did get a good bit of writing time in as well as some editing time.
However, it was not as much as I hoped for since I spent time doing some other necessary things, and they took longer than I expected. I have also been a bit less productive since I did something (I have no idea what) to my lower back/hip which has just made things a bit more challenging. However, I think I have some things figured out as far as position changes and such which will help. And the discomfort is very manageable at present, so that is very good. It has also impressed upon me the need to change positions more than I normally do (because I get into my work and forget — there is no forgetting with this 😉 ) So that is good as well.
Anyway, you are not here to hear about my back. 🙂 You are here to hear about my writing news and to read an excerpt — Yes! I have one this week!
I do not have too much news on the writing front to share.
The Kobo promotions end today. If you haven’t heard about them you can check out this Friday Feature post.
I have begun final edits on Enticing Miss Darcy, and I have started to post that story at darcyandlizzy.com. I still expect it to be ready in, at least, ebook format by March 6 if this week goes well. If this week is as slow as last week, that publication date might end up being one week later.
I have reached the end of chapter 3 (or about 8,000 words) in my current work in progress. This one will be the first Dash of Darcy story for 2018 and is called Mr. Darcy’s Comfort. Since I am happy with what I have written so far, I thought I would begin sharing from it today.
Chapter 1 has been posted for my Patrons to read, and Chapter 2 should be posted there either tonight or tomorrow during writing time. The sample below is from the end Chapter 2 and drops us into the middle of a sisterly conversation. This portion of the story is set at Netherfield while Jane is ill.
For today’s musical selection, I have gone back to my Music to Write By playlist and plucked out this sweet song. It’s one of those songs that is beautiful both as an instrumental number as in this cover by Samuel Solis and with the lyrics.
Did you take the time to listen? If you did, wouldn’t you agree there is a great amount of story inspiration in that song?
Speaking of stories, I do not have an excerpt for you again this week. (Sorry) However, I should have one next week. I have started a new work in progress, but I only have the first chapter done so far. I should have another chapter or two done before next Monday, which should give me the assurance that what I share is going to almost assuredly 😉 end up in the final draft. This also means that I should have chapter one posted on Patreon before the week is over. At least those are my plans.
Today, for those who might have missed Friday’s Feature, is the last day to pick up A Dash of Darcy Duo 2 at its introductory price of $2.99 USD (other currencies also reduced) on either Kobo or Kindle. This duo is a one book set of the previously published Dash of Darcy stories Discovering Mr. Darcy and Unravelling Mr. Darcy.
If you remember from past Monday posts, Unravelling Mr. Darcy was supposed to have a sequel to tell Anne’s story (called Becoming Entangled), but then, it morphed into a trilogy. I have just received the third story of this trio, Enticing Miss Darcy, back from my second reader, and I will be starting final edits of that this week. Publication should be in early March as planned.
I do have some promo’s coming up this week with Kobo. I will send out a newsletter to my mailing list with the info as the days approach, and of course, I will post on social media as well. One promo starts on Wednesday and the other two start on Thursday. I am new to these sorts of promos on Kobo, so I am kind of waiting to see if there is a code that I need to give you before I announce anything. They run through the weekend, so I will strive to put an announcement on the blog on Friday, so you can take advantage of the discounts in time for some weekend reading. 🙂
I think that’s all the writing news I have for you today. I hope that you have an awesome week!
Oh, wait, I want to show you one more thing. I finally got some samples of my mugs from my Society6 store, BonnyLassCreatives. They took a while to get here, and sadly, I had to wait an extra day between getting the notice that they were at the post office and being able to pick them up (after I paid the duties, of course — a drawback to having to order from the US. 🙂 ) However, I love them. I have four — one from One Winter’s Eve, one from With the Colonel’s Help, one from His Beautiful Bea, and the one below, which is from Becoming Entangled and has been my water mug while writing this week. 🙂
