This Music Monday is full of info and includes two songs because, well, I’ll explain as we get to them. 🙂
BRADPAISLEYVEVO. “Brad Paisley – Little Moments.” YouTube. YouTube, 02 Oct. 2009. Web. 12 Feb. 2017.
First up is Little Moments by Brad Paisley. I adore this song. It is so cute — and the ending is perfect! And, in my opinion, it is the little moments that show the greatest amount of love in a relationship. Grand gestures like romantic plans on Valentine’s Day as well as special getaways and gifts are all wonderful. Don’t get me wrong. I love them. However, when you’re struggling to keep it together because everything has gone wrong or the kids have stomped on your last nerve, and your husband folds the laundry or does the dishes or just wraps his arms around you and listens to your mostly coherent babbling — to me, those are the whispers that shout. Those little moments are so very precious.
I do have a story connection for this song, too. Tomorrow, February 14, is release day for So Very Unexpected. (It may actually be available already. Due to a blizzard warning being issued, I uploaded the files early just in case we run into power outage issues.) Now, if you read this story when it was posting on Thursdays, I think you will agree with me that Marcus and Lydia will likely have a lot of little moments in their relationship. Even the manner in which they met in his cottage because she had taken a wrong turn seem to fit quite well with this song.
I will be at Austen Authors tomorrow with an excerpt and some thoughts as well as a chance to win an ebook copy of So Very Unexpected. Stop by if you get the chance.
So obviously, I spent time getting my post for Austen Authors ready this week. I thought I had it done before but then, changed my mind and rewrote it. 🙂 I also spent a good bit of time rereading So Very Unexpected and making the line edits. Then, I made certain the print cover was ready — the spine width could not be set until the final page number was known. This also required the writing of a synopsis for the back of the book and the various retail sites. By the time I got all that done it was Saturday! So, no new words on my current work in progress. 🙁
As I sat down to begin getting blog posts scheduled on Friday, I kept coming back to this thought: “What will I share on Monday? I really want to share something new on Monday.” Well, yesterday, I decided to give myself a writing exercise. When I have not written in a week or more, I often find a writing exercise beneficial. Below is my writing exercise. In honor of both Valentine’s Day and the release of So Very Unexpected which is the third book in the Willow Hall Romance series, I decided to write a love letter — a particular love letter. In book 2, Darcy leaves Willow Hall and on his way, he stops to deliver a letter to Elizabeth. One of the readers here on my blog mentioned that they would like to see that letter (I think it was Linda who suggested it), and I wrote that idea down for later. Well, it’s now later. 🙂 (And song two is after the letter…so keep reading.)
Darcy’s Letter to Elizabeth, The Tenant’s Guest, Willow Hall Romance, Book 3, Extra
Dearest Elizabeth,
It is with a reluctant heart that I put away my books and see to the readying of my bags tonight. It is not a reluctance of attending to the duty that lies before me, for indeed, that duty is a privilege. It is rather the absence from your presence which such a duty requires that causes my soul to be ill-at-ease. There is no measuring the depth of delight I feel at having been reunited with you and granted my heart’s desire. There is also no accounting for the anxiety I feel at the thought of losing you to another. Why should I falter in my faith of your remaining true to me? You have never been anything but honest with me. Therefore, it is not your words of promise which causes my disquiet. It is the blackness of having once known a life without you that seeps into my heart and mind. It is perhaps a difficult thing to explain, but I will make the attempt. There are times when blessings are poured out upon an individual with seemingly no reason for such good fortune. For me, this is one such time. What have I done to deserve the blessing of you? I have not behaved above reproach. I have not performed a heroic act — no dragons have been slain, no enemy forces vanquished, — and yet, I have been given a prize of incalculable value — you.
Philip, who guessed the reason for my discontent earlier today, assures me that I will grow to accept this blessing as something that will not be snatched away. But for now, I must move forward as if that day has arrived even though my fears tell me otherwise. And so, I leave, trusting not only in your promise but also the hand of Providence to protect that which is dearest to me.
I mustn’t end a missive on such a gloomy note, so I will not. Instead, I will tell you that as I travel to Longbourn to speak to your father, I shall hold in my heart the touch of your hand on my arm and the comfort of your presence at my side. Recounting to myself about the walks we have taken and conversations we have had since our reunion will entertain me most delightfully as I travel. And when I attempt the difficult task of sharing with Bingley my wretched interference, I shall remember the taste of your lips, the softness of your form in my arms, and the few stolen moments under our tree this morning.
I shall not be gone any longer than I must, and yet, please know that for me, it will be entirely too long.
With all my love, until I return,
F.D.
What do you think? Can you imagine more fully now his distress at finding Elizabeth’s partial letter or her distress at coming to her conclusion to write it?
Writing this letter has given me an idea. (Not that I need a new idea. 🙂 ) I am thinking of making a collection of letters from characters in my books to other characters in my books (any books, not just this series). Do you have any suggestions for letters you might like to read? Let me know, and I will add them to my list of possibilities. I already have the letter from Lydia to her mother telling her that she is staying in Derbyshire written down as one that needs to be done.
Oh, and one more thing — the second song. This one, well, it just seemed to fit so well with what Darcy wrote.
JohnnyReidVEVO. “Johnny Reid – A Woman Like You.” YouTube. YouTube, 08 Oct. 2009. Web. 12 Feb. 2017.
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