Music Monday: Desire (Denise Young)

“And poor Mr. Clayton.” She sighed. “I quite like him. I did from the time we arrived at Heathcote. However, as Felicity pointed out, she is older, and so it is she who should marry first.”

Roger stopped walking. “And you gave him up for her?”

Grace shrugged. “I had not lost my heart to him.” She glanced back at the library door. “And I thought my sister had.” She shook her head. “But apparently, she has not, for she is at the rotunda with Mr. Ramsey likely letting him kiss her.”

“But I thought you thought Mr. Ramsey was of interest.”

Again, Grace shrugged. “I did, but…”

“Your sister is older?”

Grace nodded.

“She deserves to be an old maid,” Roger muttered. “Is she at the rotunda alone with Mr. Ramsey?”

“No. Miss Hamilton and Mr. Carlyle are with them.”

Roger pulled Grace across the drawing room in his hurry to reach the window. “I do not see them.”

“That is because Felicity wished to see the far side of the rotunda.” She blew out a breath. “So, she can kiss him,” she whispered.

[from His Darling Friend, A Touches of Austen Novella, and the current Sweet Tuesdays story]

Published to YouTube by Denise Young – Topic on August 22, 2015.

There are no pictures with this ‘video’ today, but the song title and tone seemed a very good fit with the small excerpt from tomorrow’s story. The song, “Desire,” is one that is on my ever-growing list of Music to Write By, and I am actually listening to this album on Spotify as I write this. 🙂

I have learned how to listen to share the music on my Spotify phone app with the Spotify app on my tv. It wasn’t hard, but I didn’t know you could do that. 🙂 So I have been listening through the tv in the room where I write. I would call it an office, but it isn’t just an office. It is more of a multipurpose room which was traditionally designed to be a living room. My house is not huge. 🙂 

Tomorrow’s installment of His Darling Friend begins Roger’s pursuit of Victoria which will not end until right around when the story ends. However, that is not too far away as the last chapter will post on May 7, 2019.

Following the completion of Roger’s story, I will post a short story in four parts. I just finished the first draft of this short story and will be starting to edit it and get is scheduled this week. I’ll tell you more about it as we get closer to the day it starts posting.

At this moment while I am writing this on Friday, I still need to complete a chapter of Loving Lydia for the week, and, though I had hoped to get three chapters of A Scandal in Springtime written, I have only gotten two written.

I did, however, do some research on how to write a mini book review so I could get that assignment organized for my son to do. Since I was looking it up and putting it together, I also turned it into an article which I can use in the future, maybe on Austen Authors.

I also had an Austen Authors post this past Tuesday about short stories. Thanks to all who stopped by!  My next Austen Authors post will be on May 7, 2019. (They are very four weeks on a Tuesday.)

Here’s someting new that I plan to start doing:

Rose Fairbanks, Zoe Burton, and I have been doing Facebook Live videos on Saturdays in our Facebook group called Longbourn Literary Society. Well, we have decided to expand that to a broader viewer base, while saving the expense of paying for a service to host the group live chats we were doing on Facebook, to that end, we have taken the live videos to YouTube. [You can find our latest one at this link.]

Currently, we are just figuring out how to do things and we’re sharing the hosting responsibility between the three of us on our own channels. (We do not yet have a Longbourn Literary Society channel.)

This has been nice for me in that I no longer have to be the host every week. (I had the subscription to the service we used so I had to be there and run the control panel.)

It also means that people who are not Facebook people can view the videos and even participate. We have not set a definitive time because of life getting in the way, but they are usually around 3 pm Eastern. You can subscribe to our channels and click the notification symbol if you wish to be notified of new content.

You can find our channels here:

Zoe http://bit.ly/ZoeBurtonYT

Rose http://bit.ly/RoseFairbanksYT

Leenie http://bit.ly/LeenieBrownYT

I am planning on sharing those videos on Sundays here on my blog for those who might wish to watch after the fact. I have that on the schedule to start on April 28 as we will be pausing for the Easter weekend and resuming the following week. I won’t be sharing that link on Facebook since I try to keep a low profile on social media on Sundays.

So, now might be a good time to subscribe to my blog if you have not already done so.

There should be a subscribe via email to this blog option either in the margin at the left on a computer or way down at the bottom of the page on a mobile device. This is not the same as subscribing to my newsletter. This subscription only sends you a notification about new blog posts and nothing else.

And that’s it for this week’s writing news.

Next Monday, there will be no Music Monday post as I am planning to spend sometime with the family over the long weekend.

Before we get to the excerpt for today, I wanted to share a picture of something that contributed to my not getting as much done this week as I had hoped. 🙂

Nearly every week, my son, whom I am homeschooling, and I do a cooking project. This week’s project was Melon Pan, a Japanese sweet bread. The best way I can describe it is a yeast bun wrapped in a sugar cookie.

The first time through a recipe is always the longest time completing that recipe. This recipe was no different. Although the recipe says it only takes 3 hours and 15 minutes to complete, it took us around 6 hours from start to finish, including time for proofing dough as well as making and correcting mistakes. Needless to say, that long a time baking really cut into my writing work time. And my arms hurt the next day. My son and I took turns kneading, but still, I ended up kneading for thirty minutes!

I cannot eat many of the ingredients in this recipe, but I hear they were delicious, and from how quickly they disappeared, I am going to believe that statement to be true. 🙂

Now, to get a little bit better acquainted with our hero, Trefor Linton, in…

An excerpt from A Scandal in Springtime:

“I will be surprised if Miss Bennet does call on me.”  Constance glanced at her brother before taking another bit of her meal.

“Why is that, dear?” Aunt Gwladys asked. “She sounds like a very pleasant young lady.”

Trefor raised an eyebrow at his sister. He suspected he knew exactly where she was going with this conversation. He was about to be reprimanded yet again for his poor behaviour at Mrs. Verity’s. He deserved it, but he did not appreciate it.

“You were rather condescending,” Constance replied.

“Our Trefor was condescending? To a lady?”

He could not fault his aunt’s look and tone of utter incredulity. He was normally polite to a fault when in the presence of a young lady. His father had taught him to be a gentleman, and he had always striven to be the man his father wished him to be.

“More than once,” his sister said.  

“I was in a foul mood.” It was a pathetic excuse, but it was also the truth.

“And what accounts for your foul mood?” His aunt placed her cutlery on her plate and, taking up her glass of wine, settled back in her chair with an expectant look.

“I do not wish to go to the Allen’s tonight,” he admitted as he stabbed his last piece of chicken with his fork.

“And why is that, my dear?”

“I would rather be at home,” he said around his food. “Where there are no debutantes,” he added after he had swallowed.

“Ah,” his aunt said, knowingly. “You are still attempting to avoid your duty to marry.”

“I am not avoiding it,” he protested before taking a large gulp of his wine. These glasses were not big enough to hold the full amount of wine for which this conversation was likely going to make him wish. He did not fancy having a discussion of his shortcomings where Miss Bennet was concerned, nor did he relish the thought of having to yet again be reminded of his need for a wife.

“I fully intend to fulfill my duty to the family after I have seen Connie well-settled.” And as soon as he could find a lady who was of interest.

He did not wish to marry just to fulfill a duty. He longed for a lady who would do more than provide him with children and be an excellent hostess. He desired companionship. Someone to whom he could talk even more freely than he could his sister and aunt. A lady who would understand and care for his heart and not just his home.

“Your sister has found her happy future,” his aunt replied. “So, now, it is your turn.” She held up a hand when Trefor opened his mouth to protest. “There is still plenty of time left in this season. I am not saying you must find a wife before summer. I am only suggesting you consider a few ladies.”

Trefor drained what remained in his wine glass. “Connie is not yet married.” And not a single lady which he had met so far this season had captured his interest in any particularly matrimonial-inspiring fashion.

His aunt merely raised her brows and pursed her lips in reply. She clearly did not approve of his reasoning. Not that she needed to approve of it. It was the only explanation he felt compelled to share. A declaration of “no lady has met my requirements” would only lead to a list being drawn up and an analysis of all the ladies any of them knew would begin. That was how his sister did things – scientifically. And his aunt would only too happily join in for she was desperate to have grand-nieces and nephews.

Do you remember Constance Linton? She is soon to be Mrs. Henry Crawford. If you haven’t read Henry: To Prove Himself Worthy, you really should. That is where you will get to know Constance, who is going to become not only a friend but a sister of Kitty Bennet in this story. (I figured that that news was not a spoiler as we expect the hero of a romance to marry the heroine, right? 😉 )

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