Published to YouTube The Alena31 on February 13, 2011.
I was listening to this song last week — watching this video, actually — and it brought to mind Jack and Georgiana’s story. I think you’ll recognize why this story came to mind when you read the chapter I am sharing below. 🙂
Enticing Miss Darcy, Chapter 3
“I am expected?” Jack asked with a surreptitious glance toward Georgiana.
“Not so much expected as hoped for,” Lady Margaret said with a smile. “Now, come sit here, my boy.” She motioned to a chair that was between her and her granddaughter.
“We are always pleased to have you call, Mr. Ralston,” Elizabeth said as she rose to pour the tea.
Jack did not miss the relieved look that passed between Georgiana and Mrs. Darcy. Perhaps not everyone was hoping to see him as much as Lady Margaret implied.
“I am always delighted to be accepted into your drawing room,” he replied. “It is the expected thing for a gentleman to call upon a lady after a soiree, is it not? They have not changed the rules of propriety and politeness on me since last season, have they?”
Lady Margaret chuckled. “They have not.”
“It is lovely of you to have called,” Georgiana added. “Did you enjoy the ball last evening?”
Jack inclined his head indicating that he had enjoyed himself. Calls, even when made at the home of someone whom you knew, were not particularly enjoyable. The conversation was always so stilted – for propriety’s sake and all that nonsense.
“It was a very enjoyable evening, although I did leave with emptier pockets than when I arrived.” His lips quirked up into a half-smirk. “Not that I minded so much. I had every intention of leaving my money with Mrs. Pratt.”
Happy Saturday! I’m happy to see you back here today. I hope you had a good week. Mine went pretty well. I am actually feeling like I might finally get to the top of this writing mountain with some goals and plans in place for the coming months — or, at least, a start to those goals and plans. 🙂 Here’s some of what is going on in my writing world.
Writing News
I got a good bit of writing done this week — 2 chapters of His Irreplaceable Belle and 1 chapter of Marrying Elizabeth(book 5).
I spent one evening rereading Kitty and Lorcan’s story and getting all the chapters I have written of that scheduled on my blog and at Patreon and then pairing them up with images. Finding those images took a while, but then, that can be a fun research hole to fall down. 🙂
I have begun thinking about what other writing project I will start next. I am considering doing some revision work to a few of my current Teatime Tale stories and making them longer (about the length of my Nature’s Fury and Delights stories) and writing a few new ones. However, I am only in the planning stages now, and there are other options like the next Other Pens story or the next Darcy Family Holidays story.
A Question for You
Do you have a preference as to what I write next? I’d love to hear it. I have made a form that you can find at this link, where you can just check off what your choice is. The form will remain open until Thursday, January 23, 2020. That way I can have some results to share with you in next week’s Saturday Broadsheets.
Publishing News
Tuesday is the day!Her Secret Beau will be live to read in Kindle Unlimited and to buy in the Kindle store. The paperback is already available.
If you were one of the fortunate few who got an advance reader copy, you can start reviewing through the paperback page.
I three boxsets that have been selected to be part of a Kobo promotion:
A Dash of Darcy and Companions Cottage Collection 1 A Dash of Darcy and Companions Cottage Collection 2 Darcy And…A Pride and Prejudice Variations Collection
This promotion is administrated by Kobo, and there will be a promotional code that must be used at checkout to receive 40% off these boxsets. I do not yet have this promo code and will likely not have it until the sale has started. This promotion will run from January 22, 2020, to January 27, 2020.
Book Review
This is an older review for Mr. Darcy’s Comfort. I selected it, first of all, because I wanted to show a Bookbub recommendation this week for those who might not have ever seen one before. At Bookbub you can follow author and reviewer, and you can like and comment on the recommendations. The second reason I selected it is because this is one of the novellas in Dash of Darcy and Companions Cottage Collection 2 which is part of the Kobo promotion this week and will be entering Kindle Unlimted in February.
I must say that I was delighted to hear that Mr. Collins was intriguing. (He is not the Mr. Collins you might expect. 🙂 )
KU Changes Reminder
Remember that the Choices series will be leaving KU on February 16, 2020, and that A Dash of Darcy and Companions Cottage Collection 2 will be entering KU right around that same time, which means that boxset and the individual titles will be leaving the other vendors just before that.
In Closing
Thank you to all who took advantage of or shared about the free days for Her Beautiful Bea and the 99 cents days for His Darling Friend. They went very well. It’s exciting to think that there are several readers who are going to get to meet the characters in this series for the first time.
Remember that you can share your preference for what I write next at this link. I will take your input into consideration as I continue to make my writing plans.
Have a lovely weekend! I’ll be back on Monday with some music and a story excerpt.
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Click to find all of Leenie’s books at your favourite retailer.
Painting of a family game of checkers (“jeu des dames”), Louis-Léopold Boilly [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons
From etymonline.com: “draughts (n.)British name for the tabletop game that in U.S. is checkers, c. 1400, from draught, perhaps because the pieces are “dragged” over the board in moves. Earlier it is recorded as jeu de dames (late 14c.).”
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While Mr. and Mrs. Bingley settled in to play draughts, Lorcan was given the privilege to play fox and geese with Kitty. It would have been a wonderful way to get to speak to her in hushed tones had not his annoying and ever-present cousin been at his elbow instructing him about which was an excellent move and which was a daft one.
PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY MEOWMEOWBB ON JUNE 25, 2011.
This is one of the songs on my Music to Write By playlist. It’s really pretty and has a wistful romantic air to it. It’s definitely just the right sort of music to get the writing mind working. I have decided to pair it today with this scene from His Darling Friend because Roger shares a sweet little remembrance about Victoria and a frog. Do you remember it from when it was the Sweet Tuesday story last year?
AN EXCERPT FROM His Darling Friend (Chapter 7):
“We will start from the top of the table, of course, with Amelia.” Mrs. Abernathy waited for her daughter to join her where she stood near the door to the drawing room in which all the houseguests were gathered to wait for dinner.
“Shall we see who it is who will dine with you?”
Miss Abernathy said an eager yes as her mother shook a bowl containing several small pieces of paper. She swirled her hand inside the bowl and pulled out a name. “Oh! How delightful! Mr. Carlyle.”
The gentleman straightened his jacket, crossed the room, and offered his arm to Miss Abernathy, whose waited only until her daughter and Mr. Carlyle had left the room before looking around and calling Victoria forward.
Of all the inane ideas! Roger crossed his arms and leaned against the wall near the window. The woman was obviously assigning gentleman dinner partners at random, but she was proceeding through the ladies based on status. Victoria was well-dowered. It was not something she published nor was it a fact she kept secret. He glowered at two gentlemen who had started whispering when Victoria’s name was called. He did not like it. His friend did not need any fortune hunters scampering after her.
“Mr. Clayton,” Mrs. Abernathy said.
Roger blew out a breath. It could be worse. She could have been stuck with Carlyle or one of those whispering gents.
Lady after lady was summoned forward and gentleman after gentleman was assigned as a partner.
“Is this not the best?” Grace said as she took Roger’s arm. “It is such a surprise! I do like surprises.”
“I do not,” Roger replied.
Grace giggled. “I will admit I had hoped I would be assigned someone different.”
“I hear Ainsley has a chit waiting for him at home,” Roger whispered.
Grace’s smile slid into a frown. “Does he indeed?”
“I have not asked him, of course, but that is what I have heard. We should proceed with caution.”
Welcome to the inaugural edition of The Saturday Broadsheet — your weekly update on all that is happening in my writing life.
Writing News
I started my writing sessions this week by spending some time researching a few things for His Irreplaceable Belle. Mostly, these were visual inspiration items and picking character names.
As of this moment, as I write this post and before I get to my writing time today (if I get to it), I have only added one more chapter to the story, which brings me all the way to chapter two. 🙂
However, I am going to post the first chapter of that story here on my blog on this coming Tuesday. It’s already uploaded and just waiting to be released. And yes, that makes me nervous to start posting a story when so little of it has been written. Hopefully, I will get another chapter written tonight (although it’s looking doubtful), and a couple more chapters written next week, and then, I will feel more relaxed as I will be several weeks ahead. (I’ll also be able to get back to writing Kitty’s story then, too.)
Along with a bit of writing and research, I have also been super busy getting things ready for a couple of promotions. If you read my Friday Feature post yesterday, you already know about these things, but I am going to repeat those promos here anyway.
His Beautiful Bea (ebook) is FREE in the Kindle store until January 14, 2020.
The price of His Darling Friend(ebook) will be $0.99 USD (with other prices also reduced) starting Monday, January 13, 2020, until Friday, January 17, 2020.
The only other writing news item I have for you this week is that I have an Austen Authors post this coming Tuesday, which will be about Her Secret Bea and will include a giveaway of one copy of the ebook version of this story.
Publishing News
Her Secret Beau (ebook) is currently on preorder and will release on January 21, 2020. The print edition will release earlier because I would like to have the two editions linked and the page count corrected before the actual release day.
